^i^^^c-JTiS^^, 


--•S'in,  S-^z 


C<]®K]oWDiL[LDAKa  [Sa(S[L'A©gTr©!?3!I,  fi^flo^o 


GLADSTONE-PARNELL 

AND 

THE  GREAT  IRISH  STRUGGLE. 

A  GRAPHIC  STORY  OF  THE  INJUSTICE  AND  OPPRESSION  INFLICTED 
UPON   IRISH  TENANTRY,   AND  A  HISTORY  OF  THE  GIGANTIC 
MOVEMENT  THROUGHOUT  IRELAND,  AMERICA  AND  GREAT 
BRITAIN    FOR    "HOME    RULE,"    ALSO   A   COMPLETE   HIS- 
TORY OF  THE  GREAT  TIMES   CONSPIRACY,  WITH  BIOG- 
RAPHIES OF  THE  GREAT  LEADERS,  GLADSTONE,  PAR- 
NELL,  DAVITT,    EGAN,   AND  VERY  MANY  OTHERS 

BY  THB   DISTINGUISHED   AUTHORS,   JOURNALISTS  AND   FRIENDS   OF  IRELAND, 

Hon.  THOMAS  POWER  O'CONNOR.  M.  P., 

AND 

ROBERT  McWADE,  Esq., 

Ex- President  Municipal  Council  of  Philadelphia,  etc,  etc. 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION 

BV 

HON.  CHARLES  STEWART  PARNELL,  M.P. 


Canadian  Introduction  hy  A.  Burns,  D.  D.,  LL.D. 
American  Introduction  by  Prof.  R.  E.  Thompson,  D.  D.,  LL.D. 


PROFUSELY   ILLUSTRATED. 


HUBBARD   BROTHERS, 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA., 
U.  S.  A. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1890,  by 

HUBBARD   BROTHERS, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


Printed,  Bound  and  Manufactured  in  the  U.  S. 


INTRODUCTION. 


I  HAVE  pleasure  in  writing  a  few  lines  of 
preface  to  Mr.  T.  P.  O'Connor's  volume.  I 
know  no  one  who  is  better  fitted  to  present  the 
case  of  Ireland,  and  especially  the  history  of  our 
movement,  before  the  public  of  Arrterica.  His 
vigorous  and  picturesque  pen  makes  everything 
he  writes  lucid,  interesting,  and  effective ;  and  he 
has  had  the  advantage  of  himself  taking  a  promi- 
nent and  honorable  part  in  many  of  the  scenes 
he  so  graphically  describes.  I  believe  it  espe- 
cially desirable  to  have  our  case  properly  stated 
to  the  American  public  at  the  present  moment. 
No  Irishman  can  speak  too  warmly  of  the  ex- 
traordinary assistance  that  America  has  rendered 
to  the  cause  of  Ireland.  The  financial  and  moral 
support  which  our  movement  has  received  from 
the  Great  Republic  has  been  recognized  by 
eminent  English  Statesmen  as  an  entirely  new 
factor  in  the  present  movement,  and  as  giving  it 


g  INTRODUCTION. 

a  Strength  and  a  power  of  endurance  absent 
from  many  previous  Irish  efforts.  It  is  at  mo- 
ments of  crisis  Hke  the  present,  when  other  po- 
litical parties  face  the  expense  and  difficulties  of 
a  political  campaign  with  hesitation  and  appre- 
hension, that  one  really  appreciates  the  enormous 
position  of  vantage  in  which  American  generosity 
has  placed  the  Irish  party.  Then  the  unanimity 
of  opinion  both  among  the  statesmen  and  the 
journalists  of  America  has  done  much  to  en- 
courage men  like  Mr.  Gladstone,  who  are  fight- 
ing for  the  Irish  cause,  and  to  fill  Ireland's  enemies 
with  the  grave  misgiving  that  the  policy  con- 
(lemned  by  another  great  and  free  nation  may  not 
be  sound  or  just.  For  these  reasons  we  are  all 
especially  desirous  that  American  opinion  should 
be  made  acquainted  with  the  merits  and  facts  of 
this  great  controversy,  and  the  following  pages 
are  eminently  calculated  to  perform  that  good 
work. 

Charles  Stewart  Parnell. 


HON.  T.  P    O'CONNOR,  M.  P. 


A    BURNS,  D   U  ,  LL  D 


CANADIAN  INTRODUCTION. 

BY  A.  BUEKS,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

President  Wesleyan  Female  College,  Hamilton,  Ont., 
Canada. 


THE  following  pages  cover  one  of  the  most 
interesting  periods  in  Irish  history.  The 
story  related  falls  mainly  within  the  memory  of 
most  of  its  readers,  embracing  scarce  the  last 
two  decades. 

It  is  written  by  a  university  man  of  scholarly 
attainments,  a  brilliant  journalist  and  author,  one 
who,  although  comparatively  a  young  man  yet, 
is  fairly  entitled  to  say  of  most  of  the  strug- 
gles and  scenes  he  describes,  quorwn  pars  magna 
fui. 

The  book  may  be  taken  as  a  representative 
putting  of  the  great  struggle  now  going  on,  and 
as  such  it  may  fairly  claim  the  attention  of  all  in- 
terested in  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  Ireland. 
None  need  be  told  that  that  land  is  now  unhappy 
and  somewhat  disaffected..  Her  harp  is  on  the 
willows,  her  songs  are  threnodies.  Yet  no  one 
can  become  acquainted  with  her  children  without 

9 


10  CANADIAN   INTRODUCTION. 

discovering  that  naturally  they  are  cheerful,  light- 
hearted  and  hopeful.  Nor  can  you  give  to  one 
of  them  a  cup  of  cold  water  without  waking  a 
genuine  inborn  gratitude.  Whether  at  home  or 
abroad,  the  race  is  "lopeful,  grateful,  and  essen- 
tially patriotic.  A  kind  word  ^r  deed  for  Ireland 
will  brighten  the  eye,  quicken  the  pulse,  arouse 
the  enthusiasm,  and  win  the  affection  of  her  chil- 
dren the  world  over. 

Have  her  critics  furnished  an  adequate  expla- 
nation of  the  present  unhappy  condition  of  such  a 
people?  The  passionate  outbursts  of  her  out- 
raged sons  receive  due  prominence.  Her  agra- 
rian crimes  are  published  far  and  wide,  Bu,'.  few 
zre  candid  enough  to  admit  that  the  crimes  of  Ire- 
land are  chiefly  agrarian,  and  caus"ed  by  the 
wholesale  confiscation  of  her  soil,  and  the  strug- 
gles of  the  descendants  of  the  real  owners  to  re- 
gain the  lands  of  their  fathers.  Goldwin  Smith 
tells  us  "an  alien  and  absentee  proprietary  is  the 
immediate  source  of  her  troubles."  "  The  owner- 
ship of  land  in  that  country  is  itself  the  heritage 
of  confiscation,  and  of  confiscation  which  has 
never  been  forgotten.  The  struggle  is  in  fact  the 
last  stage  of  a  long  civil  war  between  the  con- 
quered race  and  an  intrusive  proprietary,  which 
was  closely  identified  with  the  political  ascendency 
of  the  foreigner,  and  the  religious  ascendency  of 
an  alien  creed."  *'  The  districts  where  agrarian 
violence  has  most  prevailed  have  been  singularly 


CANADIAN   INTRODUCTION.  H 

free  from  ordinary  crime.  The  Irish  farmer  has 
clung  desperately  to  his  homestead,  eviction  is  to 
him  destitution."  "The  crime  (of  the  Irish)  is 
solely  agrarian.  In  the  districts  where  it  has 
been  most  rife,  even  in  Tipperary  itself,  ordinary 
offences  have  been  very  rare,"  and  he  continues, 
"justice  requires  that  we  remember  the  training 
which  the  Irish  as  a  nation  have  had,  and  of  which 
the  traces  are  still  left  upon  their  character.  In 
1798  they  were  goaded  into  open  rebellion  by  the 
wholesale  flogging,  half-hanging,  pitch-capping 
and  picketing  which  were  carried  on  over  a  large 
district  by  the  yeomanry  and  militiamen,  who,  as 
soon  as  the  suffering  masses  began  to  heave  with 
disaffection,  were  launched  upon  the  homes  of  the 
peasantry." 

Irish  history  is  little  studied.  Few  even  of  my 
countrymen  know  anything  of  the  history  of  our 
country.  A  partial  excuse  may  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  even  in  the  schools  of  Ireland  the  history 
of  the  country  is  not  found.  Only  as  it  may  be 
considered  necessary  to  explain  English  history  is 
Ireland  ever  mentioned,  and  neither  in  common 
school  nor  in  university  have  the  children  of  Ire- 
land the  faintest  opportunity  to  learn  anything  of 
their  people,  or  the  causes  of  the  disaffection  so 
generally  prevalent.  Traditions  abound,  but  they 
are  generally  on  sectarian  lines,  and  theological 
bitterness,  the  worst  of  all,  is  usually  added  to 
political. 


12  CANADIAN  INTRODUCTION. 

The  story  that  follows  will  be  found  real  his- 
tory, the  history  of  our  own  times.  Every  page 
will  revive  the  memory  of  the  stirring  scenes  of 
the  last  decade  or  two,  and  as  a  panoramic  vision 
will  fix  in  the  mind  the  cause  of  events  that  had 
well-nigh  passed  from  us  forever. 

This  work  will  be  found  exceedingly  oppor- 
tune. Mr.  Gladstone's  bill  for  Home  Rule  in 
Ireland  has  been  defeated  at  Westminster,  and 
again  by  the  people  of  England,  because,  as  we 
verily  believe,  it  was  not  understood  by  the  Brit- 
ish people,  while  it  was  grossly  misrepresented 
by  those  whose  interests  are  at  war  with  the 
enlargement  of  popular  rights. 

The  following  pages  will  show  the  emptiness 
and  absurdity  of  the  war  cries  of  the  late  conflict 
— "The  Empire  in  Danger,"  "The  Union  in  Dan- 
ger," "Protestantism  in  Danger"-— all  echoes  of 
the  Disestablishment  Conflict  of  1868,  the  recol- 
lections of  which  ought  to  have  taught  the  pseudo- 
prophets  wisdom  and  moderation.  There  never 
was  a  measure  more  grossly  caricatured  than  the 
late  bill  for  the  relief  of  Ireland.  It  was  all  in 
vain  that  the  leaders  of  Irish  thought  had  declared 
both  with  pen  and  voice  that  "  the  proposed  Irish 
Parliament  would  bear  the  same  relation  to  the 
Parliament  at  Westminster  that  the  Legislature 
and  Senate  of  every  American  State  bear  to  the 
head  authority  of  the  Congress  in  the  capitol  at 
Washington."    All  that  relates  to  local  business  it 


CANADIAN  INTRODUCTION.  ^3 

was  proposed  to  delegate  to  the  Irish  Assembly ; 
all  questions  of  imperial  policy  were  still  to  be 
left  to  the  imperial  government.  It  wais  all  in 
vain  that  the  acknowledged  Irish  leader,  Mr.  Par- 
nell,  declared  in  the  closing  debate  that  the  Irish 
people  were  content  to  have  a  Parliament  Wholly 
subordinate  to  the  imperial  Parliament ;  that  they 
did  not  expect  a  Parliament  like  Grattan's,  which 
possessed  co-ordinate  powers.  The  words  of 
some  outraged  exile  in  Amerka  or  Australia  fur- 
nished a  suffitient  pretext  for  the  ungenerous  but 
characteristic  vote  that  followed. 

In  this  great  struggle  I  am  thoroughly  in  sym- 
pathy with  my  country.  With  the  historian  Lecky 
I  believe  that  "the  Home  Rule  theory  is  within  the 
limits  of  the  Consdtutioh  and  supported  by 
means  that  are  perfectly  loyal  and  legitimate." 
The  British  Colonies  have  Secured  it,  and  it  is 
not  too  much  to  say  that  the  bond  of  union  be- 
tween the  Colonies  and  the  Empire  depisnds  on 
its  existence.  Canadian  opposition  to  Home 
Rule  would  seem  to  show  that  the  denial  of  the 
boon  implies  also  the  rejection  of  the  Golden 
Rule. 

That  permanent  peace  will  ever  come  to  Ire- 
land without  it  no  sane  man  expects.  No  foreign 
power  can  govern  Ireland.  The  experiment  has 
surely  been  tried  long  enough.  The  unconquer- 
able spirit  possessed  so  fully  by  the  larger  island 
is  no  less   developed  in  Ireland.     The  spirit  of 


14  CANADIAN   INTRODUCTION. 

the  age  only  strengthens  the  spirit  of  indepen- 
dence, while  the  millions  of  her  children  on  this  side 
the  Atlantic  tell  her  that  Home  Rule  is  the  only 
reasonable  rule  for  freemen. 

Ireland  needs  rest.  For  a  long  tiiae  she  has 
been  under  terrible  provocation,  and  has  suffered 
as  no  other  country  in  Europe.  She  looks 
around  for  sympathy,  and  i!;  is  not  wanting.  But 
what  she  needs  most  is  equitable,  yea,  generous 
treatment  at  the  hands  of  England.  These 
pages  will  show  that  her  poverty  is  largely  the 
result  of  misgovernment.  England  needs  the 
tranquillity  of  Ireland  as  much  as  Ireland  herself 
does.  Let  Ireland  be  assured  that  her  rights 
are  to  be  sacredly  respected  ;  that  her  wrongs  are 
to  be  redressed  by  England,  not  grudgingly  nor 
of  necessity;  that  the  elevation  and  comfort  of 
her  down-trodden  children  is  to  be  considered 
a  more  pressing  subject  of  legislation  than  the 
claims  of  an  independent  and  irresponsible  no- 
bility. She  has  given  her  Burkes,  her  Welling- 
tons, her  Ekifferins  and  her  Tyndalls  to  enrich  the 
Empire.  Let  her  be  told  to  call  her  children  to 
the  development  of  her  own  resources  and  the 
improvement  of  her  own  polity.  Order  will 
then  soon  come  from  chaos,  and  light  from  her 
sadly  prolonged  darkness,  and  the  days  of  her 
mourningr  will  soon  be  ended. 

Thoroughly  satisfied  that  a  generous  policy  on 
the  part  of  England,  not  merely  permitting,  but 


CANADIAN    INTRODUCTION.  jg 

encouraging  Home  Rule,  would  give  to  my 
country  peace,  prosperity,  and  enthusiastic  loyalty, 
I  take  my  place  with  those  who  plead  for  a  sep- 
arate Parliament  for  Ireland,  as  Illinois,  Ohio,  and 
California  have  separate  Parliaments,  but  still 
allied  to  the  Imperial  Parliament  on  the  principle 
that  binds  Illinois,  Ohio,  and  California  to  the 
United  States  of  America.  Less  than  that  should 
not  be  accepted.  More  has  not  been  asked  by 
any  of  the  leaders. sketched  in  this  work. 

I  commend  the  work  to  the  reader  not  because 
I  can  endorse  every  sentence  that  it  contains,  or 
approve  of  all  the  details  of  operation  therem,  for 
I  have  not  studied  carefully  every  page.  But  J 
heartily  approve  of  the  object  aimed  at,  and 
believing  that  the  present  struggle  is  the  old  con- 
test of  monopoly  against  the  common  weal,  or,  as 
it  has  been  aptly  put  recendy,  of  "the  classes 
against  the  masses,"  I  promptly  take  my  place 
with  the  latter,  and  claim  for  my  countrymen  a 
respectful  hearing. 

As  In  all  past  struggles  for  the  enlargement  of 
British  liberties  the  terms  "loyal"  and  "disloyal" 
have  been  called  into  active  service,  so  It  Is  to-day, 
and  "  Unionists  "  and  "  Loyalists  "  are  posing  as 
the  legitimate  opponents  of  Home  Rule.  These 
pretensions  and  assumptions  have  been  torn  Into 
tatters  a  thousand  times,  and  are  as  meaningless 
when  so  used  as  the  terms  "orthodox"  and 
"heterodox"     among     speculative     theologians. 


18  CANADIAN  INTRODUCTION. 

And  as  we  scan  the  ranks  of  the  men  who  on 
either  side  of  the  Atlantic  are  the  self-constituted 
representatives  of  loyalty,  and  monopolize  the 
term,  we  instinctively  ask  Risum  tejieafis  ?  Some, 
I  adrhit,  may  honestly  see  in  Home  Rule  the  dis- 
memberment of  the  Empire  and  innumerable 
Other  evils.  But  I  am  firmly  convinced  that  there 
are  a  thousand  thousand  good  hearts  and  true, 
who,  like  myself,  see  in  Home  Rule  and  its  con- 
comitant legislation  not  merely  harmony  and 
prosperity  to  Ireland,  but  an  immeasurably 
brighter  future  and  a  more  permanent  stability 
to  the  British  Empire. 

A.  BcfR}^ 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 


Charks  Stewart  Parnell — His  character  for  grip  and  grit — His  talents 
— His  appearance — His  early  life  and  education — His  ancestry^ 
Admiral  Charles  Stewart — Pamell's  first  tour  in  America — The 
Manchester  Martyrs — Pamell's  entrance  into  political  life — Isaac 
Butt  and  the  earlier  movements  for  Home  Rule — Parnell  and 
Butt — Joseph  Gillis  Biggar — Enormous  salaries  paid  to  ofificials 
in  Ireland — The  policy  of  obstruction — Pamell's  first  speech  in 
the  House  of  Commons 25 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  era  of  obstruction — The  British  House  of  Commons — Queen's 
speech — The  vote  on  supplies — How  obstruction  helped  Ire- 
land's cause — A  happy  hunting-ground — Flogging  in  the  army- 
England's  treatment  of  prisoners — The  Mutiny  Act — Making 
John  Bull  listen — The  Transvaal  bill — The  Irish  in  England  and, 
Scotland — The  Famine  of  1879 — A  crisis  in  Ireland's  history- 
Mr.  Butt's  defects  as  a  leader — Michael  Davitt — The  story  of  his 
early  years — A  Fenian  movement — Davitt  in  prison — A  ticket- 
of-leave — Irish-American  organizations — Land  League — "  The 
Three  F's" 78 

CHAPTER  IIL 

The  land  war — The  struggle  of  seven  centuries — Illustrations  fron^ 
Irish  history — Coin  and  livery — The  wars  under  the  Tudor  dy- 
nasty— Feudal  tenure — The  Munster  undertakers — The  settle- 
ment of  Ulster — The  Commission  of  Inquiry — The  perfidy  of  the 
Stuarts — Cromwell  in  Ireland — William  III.,  Sarsfield,  Limer- 
ick, and  the  Penal  Code   .        « 120 

17 


18  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   IV. 

{Tie  destruction  of  Irish  industries — An  alien  proprietary — English 
legislation  for  many  years  directed  against  Ireland's  prosperity — 
Interference  with  Irish  trade — The  depopulation  of  the  land — 
Woollen  manufactures  crushed  out — Blow  after  blow  dealt  at 
nascent  industries — Lord  Dufferin  on  English  jealousy  of  Ireland 
— Rack-renting,  eviction  and  legalized  robbery — Cruelties  of  the 
landlords — Dean  Swift's  pictures  of  Ireland  in  the  eighteenth 
century — Beggary  and  starvation 159 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  story  of  Irish  Parliament — Poyning's  law — Molyneux's  "  Case 
of  Ireland  Stated  " — Wood's  Half-Pence — The  condition  ot* 
Catholics — The  corruptions  of  the  Anglo-Irish  Parliament — The 
Irish  Volunteers — The  convention  at  Dungarvan — Grattan's 
Declaration  of  Rights — An  independent  Irish  Parliament — Its 
happy  effect  on  Irish  industries  and  on  business  in  general — 
Lord  Fitzwiliiam  recalled — Tiie  rebellion  of  1798 — Castlereagh 
— How  the  Union  was  brought  about         .         .         .         .         '177 

CHAPTER   VL 

After  the  Union — Ireland  heavily  taxed  for  England's  benefit — 
Shameful  injustice — The  degradation  of  the  tenantry — Absentee- 
ism— Wliolesale  eviction — Coercion  acts — Woise  and  worse — 
Wrong,  poverty  and  hopeless  misery — Catholic  Emancipation — 
O'Connell  the  Liberator — The  attitude  of  the  Orange  Tory  party 
— O'Connell  in  Parliament 226 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  great  famine  of  1845— Only  'he  culmination  of  evils — The  pota- 
to-rot— The  great  stiuggle  in  England  regarding  the  Corn-Laws 
— Protection  versus  Free  Trade — Peel  and  repeal — Lord  John 
Russell — His  criminally  stupid  Irish  policy  and  its  bitter  conse- 
quences— Tenant  right  the  only  remedy  for  Ireland's  woes — Co- 
ercion as  a  cure  for  fnmine — The  awful  disasters  of  1845  ^"^^ 
1847 — Foolish  doctrinaire  policy  of  Russell — The  Labor  Rate 
act — The  Fever — The  Soup  Kitchen  act — Emigration — Death 
of  O'Connell — Young  Ireland — John  Mitchel  and  Smith  O'Brien 
■ — Great  Britain  the  unchecked  mistress  of  Ireland      .         .         .    254 


CONTENTS.  19 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Resurrection— The  Fenian  movement— Gladstone's  mental  and  moral 
characteristics— The  disestablishment  of  the  Irish  Church— The 
Land  Bill  of  1870,  and  its  fatal  defects— The  Home  Rule 
movement  oiiginally  started  by  Protestants— The  Home  Rule 
Association-A  complete  change  of  policy— No  favors  to  be 
asked  or  accepted  from  either  great  English  party      .        .        .289 

CHAPTER   IX. 

The  old  fight  again-The  crisis  of  1879-The  election  of  Mr.  Par- 
nell  as  chairman  of  the  Irish  parly- Defects  of  Mr.  Shaw  as  a 
polilical  leader— The  leaders  decide  to  remain  in  opposition  to 
both  English  parties— Mr.  Shaw's  friends  sell  themselves  for 
place  and  pay— The  hopeless  differences  between  the  Irish  party 
and  the  English  Liberals— Parnell's  platform  for  settling  the 
Irish  land  problem— English  incapacity  to  deal  with  Irish  ques- 
tions—The Di-sturbance  Bill— Forster— Irish  outrages— Irish 
members  suspended  and  ordered  to  leave  the  House— Land  Bill 
of  1881— No-Rent  cry S°^ 

CHAPTER  X. 

In  the  depths— Merciless  war  between  the  Irish  people  and  the  au- 
thorities—Forster  and  Clifford  Lloyd— «  Harvey  Duff"— Par- 
nell  imppisoned— Parnell  triumphant— The  Phoenix  Park  mur- 
ders—Conservative rule  and  its  benefits— Gladstone's  new  move- 
ment for  conceding  Home  Rule— The  situation  in  January, 
1886 


345 


CHAPTER  XI. 


The  great  Home  Rule  debate  of  1886— Gladstone,  the  Grand  Old 
Man— His  appearance— His  qualities  of  mind  and  heart— John 
Morley— Joseph  Chamberlain— Mr.  Goschen—Haitiugton— Sal- 
isbury—Churchill— Justin  McCarthy— Thomas  Sexton— Arthur 
O'Connor— Timothy  Daniel  Sullivan— James  O' Kelly— His  sin- 
gular and  checkered  career  as  soldier,  journalist,  politician  and 
parliamentarian— John  Dillon— Edmund  Leamy— E.  D.  Gray— 
T.  M.  Healy— William  O'Brien— J.  E.  Redmond— T.  Harring- 
ton—The  Liberal  Parliament  of  1886— Gladstone's  grand  speech 
— The  debate — Hope  again  deferred 3"^ 


20  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  appeal  to  the  country-r-Gladstone's  popuIa,rity  with  the  mE^sses— ■, 
His  brilliant  campaign  in  Scotland— Splendid  receptions  at  M^Hr 
Chester,  Liverpool,  and  elsewhere — Anti-Giadstonian  efforts  of 
Hartington,  Chamberlain,  Goschen,  Churchill,  Trevelyan  qi?,d 
Bright — The  Primrose  League — The  attitude  of  the  agricultural 
laborer  and  the  farmer — -The  democracy  almost  unanimously 
friendly  to  Ireland — The  result  of  the  midsummer  elections  of 
1886 — Ireland  not  crushed — The  revival  of  hope — Belfast  riots 
—The  outlook  to-day 445 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE   MOVEMENT    IN    AMERICA. 

American  Introduction 457 

Parnell's  Appeal  to  America — Founding  of  the  Irish  National  League 
of  the  United  States — The  Buffalo  Convention — The  "  No-Rent 
Manifesto" — The  Chicago  Convention — The  League's  Second 
National  Gathering — Gloomy  days  for  the  League — End  of  the 
Land  League  of  America — Birth  and  growth  of  the  Irish  Na- 
tional League  of  America — Hon.  Alexander  Sullivan's  admin- 
istration— The  emigration  question — Irish-American  leaders — 
Patrick  Egan  takes  the  reins — Dark  days  again  dawn  for  the 
League— Public  utterances  of  eminent  Americans — To  strengthen 
Gladstone's  hands— Third  Annual  Convention  of  the  National 
League — The  League  under  John  Fitzgerald's  administration    .  471 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

HISTORY   OF  AN   IDEA, 

"Why  I  became  a  Home  Ruler,"  by  Hon.  W.  E.  Gladstone    .        .  823 
CHAPTER  XV. 

JOHN   SHERMAN  S   VIEWS. 

Hon.  John  Sherman,  U.  S.  Senator  for  Ohio,  on  '^  The  Great  Irish 

Struggle" 843 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


pAca 

RT.  HON.  W.  E.  GLADSTONE  {Steet) Frontisptec* 

THOMAS  POWER  O'CONNOR 7 

A.  BURNS,  D.  D.,  LL.  D 8 

CHARLES  STEWART  PARNELL  {Steel) 24 

ISAAC  BUTT  —J.  G.  BIGGAR 53 

JOSEPH  CHAMBERLAIN— T.  BRENNAN 54 

DR.  K.  O'DOHERTY ,, 71 

J.  WINTER 72 

LORD  SPENCER  — MR.  TREVELYAN 83 

LORD  R.  CHURCHILL— LORD  HARTINGTON 84 

MICHAEL  DAVITT 97 

MEETING  OF  LAND  LEAGUE  COMMITTEE 98 

F.  B.  FREEHILL 105 

W.  REDMOND  — J.  E.  REDMOND 106 

SCENE  IN  IRELAND  —  FARMER'S  CABIN in 

EVICTED  — DRIVEN  FROM  THE  HOUSE  WE  BUILT 112 

CELEBRATING  MASS  IN  A  CABIN 155 

LIFE  IN  IRELAND 156 

DESTITUTE  FISHERMEN 173 

EVICTED  — HOMELESS 174 

HENRY  GRATTAN 189 

GRATTAN'S  PARLIAMENT 190 

DANIEL  O'CONNELL 249 

DRINKING  HIS  HONOR'S  HEALTH 250 

THE  OBNOXIOUS   PROCESS-SERVER 293 

NO  RENT 294 

T.  M.  HEALY  — JUSTIN  McCARTHY 313 

THOMAS  SEXTON  —  W.  H.  O'SULLIVAN 314 

M.  McDonald,  of  victoria 321 

JOHN  MORLEY  — sir  W.  V.  HARCOURT 322 

21 


22  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

rAGE 
A.  M.  SULLIVAN  — T.  D.  SULLIVAN „  333 

GLADSTONE'S  SPEECH 334 

PARNELL'S  NEW   NATIONAL  MAP 442 

ROBERT  M.  McWADE 469 

PATRICK  A.  COLLINS  —  THOMAS  FLATLEY 470 

PATRICK  EGAN  —  ALEXANDER  SULLIVAN 475 

JAMES  MOONEY  — JOHN  J.  HYNES , 476 

REV.  PATRICK  CRONIN  — JOHN  F.  FINERTY 509 

REV.  CHARLES  O'REILLY,  D.  D.  —  REV.  THOMAS  J.  CONATY 510 

WILLIAM  J.  GLEASON  —  HON.  M.  V.  GANNON 54s 

REV.  DR.  GEO.  C.  BETTS  —  REV.  P.  A.  McKENNA 546 

COL.  JOHN  F.  ARMSTRONG  —  PATRICK  MARTIN ., '. 603 

MICHAEL  J.  REDDING— MILES  M.  O'BRIEN 604 

JAMES  REYNOLDS  — JOHN  BOYLE  O'REILLY 613 

COL.  W.  P.  REND  — JOHN  GROVES 614 

ROGER  WALSH— JUDGE  MICHAEL  COONEY....... 651 

JOHN  FITZGERALD  —  JOHN  P.SUTTON 652 

REV.  GEO.  W.  PEP^'ER  —  THOMAS  H.  WALSH 759 

M.  J.  RYAN  — E.  JOHNSON 760 

MAURICE  F.  WILHERE  —  HUGH  McCAFFREY , 819 

REV.  MAURICE  J.  DORNEY  — M.  D.  GALLAGHER ta) 


tn.y  ai,  J=; 


CHAPTER   I. 

CHARLES    STEWART   PARNELL. 

GRIP  and  grit:  in  these  two  words  are  told 
the  secret  of  Mr.  Parnell's  marvellous 
success  and  marvellous  hold  over  men.  When 
once  he  has  made  up  his  mind  to  a  thing  he  is 
inflexible ;  immovable  by  affection  or  fear  or 
reasoning.  He  knows  what  he  wants,  and  he  is 
resolved  to  have  it.  Throug-hout  his  career  he 
has  often  had  to  make  bargains  ;  he  has  never  yet 
been  known  to  make  one  in  which  he  gave  up  a 
sinorle  iota  which  he  could  hold.  But  it  takes 
time  before  one  discovers  these  qualities.  In 
ordinary  circumstances  Mr.  Parnell  is  apparently 
the  most  easy-going  of  men.  Though  he  is  not 
emotional  or  effusive,  he  is  genial  and  unaffected 
to  a  degree ;  listens  to  all  comers  with  an  air  of 
real  deference,  especially  if  they  be  good  talkers ; 
and  Apparently  allows  himself  to  follow  implicitly 
the  guidance  of  those  who  are  speaking  to  him. 
He  is  for  this  reason  one  of  the  most  agreeable 
of  companions,  never  raising  any  difficulties  about 
trifles,  ready  to  subject  his  will  and  his  conven- 
ience to  that  of  others ;   amiable,  unpretending,  a 

(25) 


26  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

splendid  listener,  a  delightful  host.  But  all  the 
softness  and  the  pliancy  disappear  when  the 
moment  comes  for  decisive  action.  After  days 
of  apparent  wavering,  he  suddenly  becomes 
granite.  His  decision  is  taken,  and  once  taken 
is  irrevocable.  He  oroes  ri^ht  on  to  the  end, 
whatever  it  may  be.  In  some  respects,  indeed, 
he  bears  a  singular  resemblance  to  General 
Grant;  he  has  his  council  of  war,  and  nobody 
could  be  a  more  patient  or  more  respectful  lis- 
tener, and,  ordinarily,  nobody  more  ready  to  have 
his  thinking  done  for  him  by  others.  But  when 
affairs  reach  a  great  climax,  it  is  his  own  judg- 
ment upon  which  he  acts,  and  upon  that  alone. 

Mr.  Parnell  has  not  a  large  gift  of  expression. 
He  hates  public  speaking,  and  avoids  a  crowd 
with  a  nervousness  that  sometimes  appears  almost 
feminine.  He  likes  to  steal  through  crowded 
streets  in  a  long,  heavy  Ulster  and  a  small 
smoking-cap  that  effectually  conceal  his  identity, 
and  when  he  is  in  Ireland  is  only  happy  when  the 
quietness  of  Avondale  secludes  him  from  all  eyes 
but  those  of  a  few  intimates.  From  his  want  of 
any  love  of  expressing  himself,  it  often  happens 
that  he  leaves  a  poor  impression  on  those  who 
meet  him  casually.  More  than  one  man  has 
thought  that  he  was  litde  better  than  a  simpleton, 
and  their  mangled  reputations  strew  the  path  over 
which  the  Juggernaut  of  Parnell's  fortunes  and 
genius  has  mercilessly  passed.     He  is  incapable 


THE    GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  27 

of  giving  the  secret  of  his  power,  or  of  explaining 
the  reasons  of  his  decisions.  He  judges  wisely, 
with  instinctive  wisdom,  just  as  Millais  paints ;  he 
is  always  politically  right,  because,  so  to  speak,  he 
cannot  help  it.  This  want  of  any  great  power 
and  any  great  desire  to  expose  the  line  of  reason- 
ing by  which  he  has  reached  his  conclusions  has 
often  exposed  Parnell  to  misunderstandings  and 
strong  differences  of  opinion  even  with  those  who 
respect  and  admire  him.  The  invariable  result  is 
that,  when  time  has  passed,  those  who  have  dif- 
fered from  him  admit  that  they  were  wrong  and 
he  rio-ht,  and  once  more  have  a  fatalistic  belief  in 
his  sagacity.  Often  he  does  not  speak  for  days 
to  any  of  his  friends,  and  is  seldom  even  seen  by 
them.  He  knows  the  enormous  advantage  some- 
times of  pulling  wires  from  an  invisible  point. 
During  this  absence  his  friends  occasionally  fret 
and  fume  and  wonder  whether  he  knows  every- 
thing that  is  going  on  ;  and,  when  their  impatience 
has  reached  its  climax,  Parnell  appears,  and  lo !  a 
great  combination  has  been  successfully  laid,  and 
the  Irish  are  within  the  citadel  of  some  time- 
honored  and  apparently  immortal  wrong.  Simi- 
larly it  is  with  Parnell's  nerve.  In  ordinary  times 
he  occasionally  appears  nervous  and  fretful  and 
pessimistic;  in  the  hour  of  crisis  he  is  calm,  gay, 
certain  of  victory,  with  the  fanaticism  of  a  Mussul- 
man, unconscious  of  danger,  with  a  blindness  half 
boyish,  half  divine. 


28  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Mr.  Parnell  is  not  a  man  of  large  literary 
reading,  but  he  is  a  severe  and  constant  student 
of  scientific  subjects,  and  is  especially  devoted  to 
mechanics.  It  is  one  of  his  amusements  to  isolate 
himself  from  the  enthusiastic  crowds  that  meet 
him  everywhere  in  Ireland,  and,  in  a  room  by 
himself,  to  find  delight  in  mathematical  books. 
He  is  a  constant  reader  of  engineering  and  other 
mechanical  papers,  and  he  takes  the  keenest  in- 
terest in  machinery.  It  is  characteristic  of  the 
modesty  and,  at  the  same  time,  scornfulness  of  his 
nature,  that  all  through  the  many  attacks  made 
upon  him  by  gentlemen  who  wear  their  hearts 
upon  their  sleeves,  he  has  never  once  made  allusion 
to  his  own  strong  love  of  animals ;  but  to  his 
friends  he  often  expressed  his  disgust  for  the 
outrages  that,  during  a  portion  of  the  agitation  in 
Ireland,  were  occasionally  committed  upon  them. 
He  did  not  express  these  sentiments  in  public, 
for  the  good  reason  that  he  regarded  the  outcry 
raised  by  some  of  the  Radicals  as  part  of  the 
gospel  of  cant  for  which  that  section  of  the 
Liberal  party  is  especially  distinguished.  To 
hear  a  man  like  Mr.  Forster  refusing  a  word  of 
sympathy,  in  one  breath,  for  whole  housefuls  of 
human  beings  turned  out  by  a  felonious  landlord 
to  die  by  the  roadside,  and,  in  the  next,  demanding 
the  suppression  of  the  liberties  of  a  nation  be- 
cause half-a-dozen  of  cattle  had  their  tails  cut  off; 
to  see  the  same  men  who  howled  in  delight  be- 


THE  GREAT  IRISH  STRUGGLE.  29 

cause  the  apostle  of  a  great,  humane  movement, 
like  Mr.  Davitt,  had  been  sent  to  the  horrors  of 
penal  servitude,  shuddering  over  the  ill-usage  of 
a  horse,  was  quite  enough  to  make  even  the  most 
humane  man  regard  this  professed  love  of  an- 
imals as  but  another  item  in  the  grand  total  of 
their  hypocrisy.  Mr.  Parnell  regards  the  lives  of 
human  beings  as  more  sacred  than  even  those  of 
animals,  and  he  is  consistent  in  his  hatred  of  op- 
pression and  cruelty  wherever  they  may  be  found. 
His  sympathies  are  with  the  fights  of  freedom 
everywhere,  and  he  often  spoke  in  the  strongest 
terms  of  his  disgust  for  the  butcheries  in  the 
Soudan,  which  the  Liberals,  who  wept  over  Irish 
horses,  and  Irish  cows,  received  with  such  Olym- 
pian calm.  In  1867  the  ideas  that  had  been  sown 
in  his  mind  in  childhood  first  beofan  to  mature. 
His  mother  was  then,  as  probably  throughout  her 
life,  a  strong  Nationalist,  and  so  was  at  least  one 
of  his  sisters.  Thus  Mr.  Parnell,  in  entering  upon 
political  life,  was  reaching  the  natural  sequel  of 
his  own  descent,  of  his  early  training,  of  the 
strongest  tendencies  of  his  own  nature.  It  is 
not  easy  to  describe  the  mental  life  of  a  man  who 
is  neither  expansive  nor  introspective.  It  is  one 
of  the  strongest  and  most  curious  peculiarities 
of  Mr.  Parnell,  not  merely  that  he  rarely,  if  ever, 
speaks  of  himself,  but  that  he  rarely,  if  ever, 
gives  any  indication  of  having  studied  himself. 
His  mind,  if  one   may  use   the    jargon   of    the 


30  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Germans,  is  purely  objective.  There  are  few 
men  who,  after  a  certain  length  of  acquaintance, 
do  not  familiarize  you  with  the  state  of  their 
hearts  or  their  stomachs  or  their  finances ;  with 
their  fears,  their  hopes,  their  aims.  But  no  man 
has  ever  been  a  confidant  of  Mr.  Parnell.  Any 
allusion  to  himself  by  another,  either  in  the  exu- 
berance of  friendship  or  the  design  of  flattery, 
is  passed  by  unheeded ;  and  it  is  a  joke  among 
his  intimates  that  to  Mr.  Parnell  the  being 
Parnell  does  not  exist. 

It  is  plain  from  the  facts  we  have  narrated 
that  Parnell's  great  strength  is  one  which  lies  in 
his  character  rather  than  in  his  attainments.  Yet 
his  wonderful  successes  won  in  the  face  of  nu- 
merous and  most  bitter  opponents  testify  to 
mental  abilities  of  a  very  high  order.  Mr.  Glad- 
stone has  said  of  him,  "  No  man,  as  far  as  I  can 
judge,  is  more  successful  than  the  hon.  member 
in  doing  that  which  it  is  commonly  supposed  that 
all  speakers  do,  but  which  in  my  opinion  few 
really  do — and  I  do  not  include  myself  among 
those  few — namely,  in  saying  what  he  means  to 
say."  Mr.  Parnell  is  moreover  very  strong  in 
not  saying  the  thing  which  should  not  be  said. 
Too  many  of  his  countrymen,  it  may  be  safely  as- 
serted, are  of  that  hasty  and  impulsive  tem- 
perament which  may  betray,  by  a  word  prema- 
turely spoken,  some  point  which  should  have  been 
held    from    the   enemy,  and  which    might  easily 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  gj 

have  been  made,  at  some  later  time,  a  strono^hold 


t> 


of  defence  in  the  parliamentary  contest.  Mr. 
Parnell  has  few  qualities  which  have  hitherto 
been  associated  with  the  idea  of  a  successful  Irish 
leader.  He  has  now  become  one  of  the  most 
potent  of  parliamentary  debaters  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  through  his  thorough  grasp  of  his 
own  ideas  and  through  his  exact  knowledge  of 
the  needs  of  his  country.  But  Mr.  Parnell  has  be- 
come this  in  spite  of  himself  He  retains  to  this 
day,  as  we  have  before  stated,  an  almost  invin- 
cible repugnance  to  public  speaking;  if  he  can, 
through  any  excuse,  be  silent,  he  remains  silent, 
and  the  want  of  all  trainino-  before  his  entrance 
into  political  life  made  him,  at  first,  a  speaker 
more  than  usually  stumbling.  His  complete  suc- 
cess in  overcoming,  not  indeed  his  natural  ob- 
jection to  public  speaking,  but  the  difficulty  with 
which  his  first  speeches  were  marked,  affords  one 
of  the  many  proofs  of  his  wonderful  strength  and 
singleness  of  purpose.  It  is  not  a  little  re- 
markable that  his  first  successful  speech  was  crit- 
icised for  its  vehemence  and  bitterness  of  tone, 
and  for  the  shrillness  and  excessive  effort  of  the 
speaker's  voice.  It  seems  probable  that  the 
embarrassing  circumstances  of  his  position  while 
addressing  an  unsympathizing  body  of  legislators, 
combined  with  a  sense  of  his  own  inexperience, 
may  have  produced  the  appearance  of  excessive 
vehemence  of  manner. 


32  GLADSTONE4-PARNELL. 

Nature  has  stamped  on  the  person  of  this  re- 
markable man  the  qualities  of  his  mind  and  tem- 
perament. His  face  is  singularly  handsome,  and 
at  a  first  glance  might  even  appear  too  delicate 
to  be  strong.  The  nose  is  long  and  thin  and 
carved,  not  moulded  ;  the  mouth  is  well  cut ;  the 
cheeks  are  pallid;  the  forehead  perfectly  round, 
as  round  and  as  striking  as  the  forehead  of  the 
first  Napoleon  ;  and  the  eyes  are  dark  and  un- 
fathomable. The  passer-by  in  the  streets,  taking 
a  casual  look  at  those  beautifully  chiselled 
features  and  at  the  air  of  perfect  tranquillity, 
would  be  inclined  to  think  that  Mr.  Parnell  was  a 
very  handsome  young  man,  who  probably  had 
graduated  at  West  Point,  and  would  in  due  time 
die  in  a  skirmish  with  the  Indians.  But  a  closer 
look  would  show  the  great  possibilities  beneath 
this  face.  The  mouth,  especially  the  under  lip, 
speaks  of  a  grip  that  never  loosens ;  the  eye, 
when  it  is  fixed,  tells  of  the  inflexible  will  be- 
neath ;  and  the  tranquillity  of  the  expression  is 
the  tranquillity  of  the  nature  that  wills  and  wins. 
Similarly  with  his  figure.  It  looks  slight  almost 
to  frailty ;  but  a  glance  will  show  that  the  bones 
are  large,  the  hips  broad,  and  the  walk  firm ;  in 
fact,  Mr.  Parnell  tramps  the  ground  rather  than 
walks.  The  hands  are  firm,  and  even  the  way 
they  grasp  a  pencil  has  a  significance. 

This  picture  of  Parnell  is  very  unlike  the  por- 
traits which  have  been    formed  of  him    by  the 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  ■-  33 

imagination  of  those  who  have  never  met  him. 
When  he  was  first  in  the  storm  and  stress  of  the 
era  of  obstruction,  he  used  to  be  portrayed  in  the 
truthful  pages  of  English  comic  journalism  with  a 
battered  hat,  a  long  upper  lip,  a  shillelah  in  his 
hand,  a  clay  pipe  in  his  caubeen.  Even  to  this 
day  portraits  after  this  fashion  appear  in  the 
lower-class  journals  that  think  the  caricature  of 
the  Irish  face  the  best  of  all  possible  jokes.  Par- 
nell  is  passionately  fond  of  Ireland;  is  happier 
and  healthier  on  its  soil  than  in  any  other  part  of 
the  world,  and  is  almost  bigoted  in  the  intensity 
of  his  patriotism.  But  he  might  easily  be  taken 
for  a  native  of  another  country.  Residence  for 
the  first  years  of  his  life  in  English  schools  has 
given  him  a  strong  English  accent  and  an  essen- 
tially EngHsh  manner;  and  from  his  American 
mother  he  has  got,  in  all  probability,  the  healthy 
pallor,  the  delicate  chiselling,  the  impassive  look, 
and  the  resolute  eye  that  are  typical  of  the  chil- 
dren of  the  great  Republic. 

Such  is  the  man  in  brief  who  to-day  is  perhaps 
the  most  potent  personality  in  all  the  many  na- 
tions and  many  races  of  the  earth.  The  Russian 
Czar  rules  wider  domains  and  more  subjects ;  but 
his  sway  has  to  be  backed  by  more  than  a  million 
armed  men,  and  he  passes  much  of  his  time  shiv- 
ering before  the  prospect  of  a  sudden  and  awful 
death  at  the  hands  of  the  infuriated  amono-  his 
own  people.     The  German  is  a  more   multitudi- 


34  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

nous  race  than  the  Irish  and  almost  as  widely 
scattered ;  but  Bisrnarck  requires  also  the  protec- 
tion of  a  mighty  army  and  of  cruel  coercion  laws, 
and  the  German  who  leaves  the  Fatherland  re- 
gards with  abhorrence  the  political  ideas  with 
which  Bismarck  is  proud  to  associate  his  name. 
Gladstone  exercises  an  almost  unparalleled  sway 
over  the  minds,  hearts,  imaginations  of  English- 
men;  but  nearly  one-half  of  his  people  regard 
him  as  the  incarnation  of  all  evil ;  and  shallow- 
pated  lieutenants,  great  only  in  self-conceit,  dare 
to  beard  and  defy  and  flout  him.  But  Parnell  has 
not  one  solitary  soldier  at  his  command  ;  the  jail 
has  opened  for  him  and  not  for  his  enemies,  and 
except  for  a  miserable  minority  he  is  adored  by 
all  the  Irish  at  home,  and  adored  even  more  fer- 
vently by  the  Irish  who  will  never  see — in  some 
cases  who  have  never  seen — the  shores  of  the 
Green  Isle  again.  In  one  way  or  another, 
through  intermixture  with  the  blood  of  other 
peoples,  the  Irish  race  can  lay  claim  to  some 
twenty  millions  of  the  human  race.  Out  of  all 
these  twenty  millions  the  people  who  do  not  re- 
gard Parnell  as  their  leader  may  be  counted  by 
the  few  hundreds  of  thousands.  In  cities  sepa- 
rated from  his  home  or  place  of  nativity  by  oceans 
and  continents,  men  meet  at  his  command,  and 
spill  their  money  for  the  cause  he  recommends. 
Meetings  called  under  his  auspices  gather  daily 
in  every  one  of  the  vast  States  of  America,  in 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  35 

Canada,  in  Cape  Colony;  and  the  primeval  woods 
of  Australia  have  echoed  to  the  cheers  for  his 
name.  But  this  is  but  a  superficial  view  of  his 
power.  A  nation,  under  his  guidance,  has  shed 
'many  of  its  traditional  weaknesses;  from  being  im- 
pulsive has  grown  cool  and  calculating ;  from  being 
disunited  and  discordant  has  welded  itself  into 
iron  bands  of  discipline  and  solidarity.  In  a  race 
scattered  over  every  variety  of  clime  and  soil  and 
gover'nment,  and  in  every  stratum  of  the  social 
scale  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  there  are 
men  of  every  variety  of  character  and  occupation 
and  opinion.  In  other  times  the  hatred  of  these 
men  over  their  differences  of  method  was  more 
bitter  than  their  hatred  for  the  common  enemy 
who  loathed  alike  their  ends  and  their  means. 
Now  they  all  alike  sink  into  equality  of  agree- 
ment before  the  potent  name  of  Parnell,  high  and 
low,  timid  and  daring,  moderate  and  extreme. 
Republics  change  their  Presidents,  colonies  their 
governors  and  ministers ;  in  England  now  it  is 
Gladstone  and  now  it  is  Salisbury  that  rules;  but 
Parnell  remains  stable  and  immovable,  the  apex 
of  a  pyramid  that  stretches  invisible  over  many 
lands  and  seas,  as  resistless  apparently  as  fate, 
solid  as  granite,  durable  as  time. 

It  was  many  years  before  the  world  had  any 
idea  of  this  new  and  potent  force  that  was  coming 
into  its  councils  and  affairs.  Charles  Stewart 
Parnell  was  born  in  June,  1846.     He  is  descended 


36  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

from  a  family  that  had  long  been  associated  with 
the  political  life  of  Ireland.  The  family  came 
originally  from  Congleton,  in  Cheshire;  but  like 
so  many  others  of  English  origin  had  in  time 
proved  its  right  to  the  proud  boast  of  being 
Hibemior  Hibernis  ipsis.  So  far  back  as  the 
beginning  of  the  last  century  a  Parnell  sat  for  an 
Irish  constituency  in  the  Irish  Parliament.  At  the 
time  of  the  Union  a  Parnell  held  high  office,  and 
was  one  of  those  who  gave  the  most  substantial 
proof  of  the  reality  of  his  love  for  the  independ- 
ence of  his  country.  Sir  John  Parnell  at  the 
time  was  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  and  had 
held  the  office  for  no  less  than  seventeen  years. 
It  was  one  of  the  vices  of  the  old  Irish  Parliament 
even  in  the  days  after  Grattan  had  attained  com- 
parative freedom  in  1782  that  the  Ministers  were 
creatures  of  the  Crown  and  not  responsible  to  and 
removable  by  the  Parliament  of  which  they  were 
members.  There  was  everything,  then,  in  these 
years  of  service  as  a  representative  of  the  Crown 
to  have  transformed  Sir  John  Parnell  into  a  time- 
serving and  corrupt  courtier.  But  Sir  John  Bar- 
ington,  the  best  known  chronicler  of  the  days  of 
the  Irish  Union,  describes  Sir  John  Parnell  in  his 
list  of  contemporary  Irishmen  as  "  Incorruptible;" 
and  "  Incorruptible  "  he  proved  ;  for  he  resigned 
office  and  resisted  the  Act  of  Union  to  the  bitter 
end.  A  son  of  Sir  John  Parnell — Henry  Parnell 
— -was  afterwards   for  many  years  a  prominent 


THE   GREAT    IRISH    STRUGGLE.  37 

member  of  the  British  Parliament,  became  a  Cab- 
inet Minister,  and  was  ultimately  raised  to  the 
Peerage  as  the  first  Baron  Congleton.  John 
Henry  Parnell  was  a  grandson  of  Sir  John  ParnelL 
In  his  younger  days  he  went  on  a  tour  through 
America ;  there  met  Miss  Stewart,  the  daughter 
of  Commodore  Stewart,  fell  in  love  with  her,  and 
was  married  in  Broadway.  It  is  unnecessary  to 
speak  to  Americans  of  the  immortal  "  Old  Iron- 
sides." Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  bravery,  calm- 
ness, and  strength  of  will  which  were  characteris- 
tic of  the  brave  commander  of  the  "  Consdtution  " 
are  inherited  by  his  grandson,  the  bearer  of  his 
name ;  for  the  full  name  of  Mr.  Parnell,  as  is 
known,  is  "  Charles  Stewart  Parnell."  There  was 
also  somethinor  significant  in  the  fact  that  the  man 
who  was  destined  to  prove  the  most  potent  foe 
oi^  British  misrule  in  Ireland  should  have  drawn 
his  blood  on  the  mother's  side  from  a  captain  who 
was  one  of  the  few  men  that  ever  brought  humili- 
ation on  the  proud  mistress  of  the  seas. 

The  young  Parnell,  chiefly  because  he  was  a 
delicate  child,  was  sent  to  various  schools  in 
England  during  his  boyhood,  and  finally  went  to 
Cambridge  University — the  universit)^  of  his 
father.  Here  he  stayed  for  a  couple  of  years,  and 
for  a  considerable  time  thought  of  becoming  a 
lawyer.  But  he  changed  his  purpose,  with  a 
regret  that  sometimes  even  in  these  days  of 
supreme  political  glory  finds  wistful  expression. 


38  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Almost  Immediately  after  his  years  at  Cam- 
bridge he  went  abroad  for  a  tour;  and  like  his 
fadier  he  chose  America  as  the  first  place  to  visit. 
While  travelling  through  Georgia — where  his 
brother  has  now  a  great  peach-orchard — he  met 
with  a  railway  accident.  He  escaped  unhurt; 
but  John,  his  elder  brother,  was  injured;  and 
John  says  to  this  day  that  he  never  had  so  good 
a  nurse  as  "  Charley."  Then  Mr.  Parnell  came 
back  to  his  home  in  Avondale,  County  Wicklow, 
and  gave  himself  up  to  the  occupations  and 
amusements  of  a  country  gentleman.  At  this  time 
he  was  known  as  a  reticent  and  rather  retirlnof 
young  man.  He  must  have  had  his  opinions 
though ;  for  he  was  brought  up  in  a  strongly 
political  environment.  Probably  owing  to  her 
father's  blood  Mrs.  Parnell  had  always  a  lively 
sympathy  with  the  rebels  against  British  oppres- 
sion in  Ireland.  She  had  a  house  in  Dublin  at 
the  time  when  the  ranks  of  Fenianism  had  been 
descended  upon  by  the  government;  and  when 
in  Green  Street  Court-house,  with  the  aid  of  in- 
formers, packed  juries,  and  partisan  judges,  the 
desperate  soldiers  of  Ireland's  cause  were  being 
consigned  in  quick  and  regular  succession  to  the 
living  death  of  penal  servitude.  There  were  in 
various  parts  of  the  city  fugitives  from  what  was 
called  in  these  days  justice  ;  and  among  the  places 
where  most  of  these  fugitives  found  a  temporary 
asylum  and  ultimately  a  safe  flight  to  freer  lands 


THE   GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  gg 

and  till  better  days  was  the  house  of  Mrs.  Parnell. 
Fanny  Parnell  is  also  one  of  the  family  figures 
that  played  a  large  part  in  the  creation  of  the 
opinions  of  her  brother.  At  an  early  age  she 
showed  her  poetic  talents ;  and  from  the  first 
these  talents  were  devoted  to  the  description  of 
the  sufferings  of  Ireland  and  to  appeals  to  her 
sons  to  rise  against  Ireland's  wrongs.  When  the 
Fenian  movement  was  in  its  full  strength  it  had 
an  organ  in  Dublin  called  The  Irish  People ;  and 
into  the  office  of  The  Irish  People  Fanny  Parnell 
stole  often  with  a  patriotic  poem. 

In  the  midst  of  these  surroundino-s  came  the 
news  of  the  execution  of  the  Manchester  Martyrs. 
The  effect  of  that  event  upon  the  people  of  Ire- 
land was  extraordinary.  The  three  men  hanged 
had  taken  part  in  the  rescue  of  two  prominent 
Fenian  soldiers.  In  the  scrimmage  a  policeman, 
Sergeant  Brett,  had  been  accidentally  killed,  and 
for  this  accidental  death  several  men  were  put  on 
their  trial  for  murder.  The  trial  took  place  in 
one  of  the  periodical  outbursts  of  fury  which  un- 
happily used  to  take  place  between  England  and 
Ireland.  The  juries  were  prejudiced,  the  judges 
not  too  calm,  and  the  evidence  far  from  trust- 
worthy. Three  men — Allen,  Larkin,  and  O'Brien 
— were  sentenced  to  death.  Though  many  hu- 
mane Englishmen  pleaded  for  mercy,  the  law  was 
allowed  to  take  its  course,  and  Allen,  Larkin,  and 
O'Brien  were  executed.     A  wild  cry  of  hate  and 


40  GLADSTONE— PA  RNELL. 

sorrow  rose  from  Ireland.  In  every  town  multi- 
tudes of  men  walked  in  funeral  procession,  and  tq 
this  day  the  poem  of  "  God  Save  Ireland,"  which 
commemorates  the  memory  of  Allen,  Larkin,  and 
O'Brien,  is  the  most  popular  of  Irish  songs. 

To  anybody  acquainted  with  the  nature  of  Mr. 
Parnell  it  will  be  easy  to  understand  the  effect 
which  such  a  tragedy  would  have  upon  his  mind. 
If  there  be  one  quality  more  developed  than  an- 
other in  his  nature  it  is  a  hatred  of  cruelty. 
When  he  was  a  magistrate  he  had  brought  before 
him  a  man  charged  with  cruelty  to  a  donkey. 
Fanny  Parnell  was  the  person  who  had  the  man 
rendered  up  to  justice,  and  her  brother  strongly 
sympathized  with  her  efforts.  The  man  was  con- 
victed, and  was  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  thirty 
shillings.  The  miscreant  might  as  well  have  been 
asked  to  pay  the  national  debt,  and  the  fine  was  a 
sentence  of  prolonged  imprisonment.  The  sequel 
of  the  story  is  characteristic  of  the  family.  Miss 
Parnell  herself  paid  the  fine  and  released  the  ruf- 
fian. It  was  his  strong  sympathy  with  suffering 
and  his  hatred  of  cruelty  that  first  impelled  Mr. 
Parnell  to  lead  the  crusade  against  the  use  of  the 
odious  lash  in  the  British  army  and  navy.  So 
deep,  indeed,  is  his  abhorrence  of  cruelty  and 
even  of  bloodshed,  that  he  is  strongly  opposed  to 
capital  punishment ;  and  once,  when  one  of  his 
colleagues  voted  against  a  motion  condemnatory 
of  capital  punishment  in  the  House  of  Commons,  he 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  4J 

expressed  the  hope,  half  joke,  whole  earnest,  that 
some  day  that  colleague  might  be  taught  a  lesson 
by  being  himself  hanged  as  a  rebel.  The  Man- 
chester tragedy  then  touched  Parnell  in  his  most 
tender  point,  and  from  that  time  forward  he  was 
an  enemy  of  English  domination  in  Ireland. 

But  he  seemed  to  be  in  no  hurry  to  put  his 
convictions  into  action.  He  is  not  a  man  of  ex- 
uberant enjoyment  of  life.  He  has  too  little 
imagination  and  too  much  equability  for  ecstasies, 
but  he  enjoys  the  hour,  has  many  and  varied  in- 
terests in  life,  and  could  never,  by  any  possibility, 
sink  to  a  slothful  or  a  melancholy  dreamer.  His 
proud  and  self-respecting  nature,  too,  saved  him 
from  any  tendency  towards  that  wretched  and 
squalid  viciousness  which  is  the  characteristic  of 
so  many  landlords'  lives  in  Ireland.  He  is  essen- 
tially temperate;  eats  but  plainly,  and  drinks 
nothing  but  a  small  quantity  of  claret.  Nor  could 
he  descend  to  the  pure  horsiness  which  makes  so 
many  country  gentlemen  regard  the  stableman's 
as  the  highest  of  arts  and  pursuits. 

One  of  the  reasons  why  Mr,  Parnell  delayed 
his  entrance  into  public  life  was  the  state  of  Irish 
politics  at  that  moment.  There  was  little  move- 
ment in  the  country  of  a  constitutional  character. 
The  representation  was  in  the  hands  of  knavish 
office-holders  or  office-seekers.  The  professions 
of  political  faith  were  so  many  lies,  and  the  con- 
stituencies distrustful  of  all  chance  of  relief  from 


42  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

the  Legislature,  allowed  thems^elves  to  be  bought, 
that  they  might  afterwards  be  sold.  All  that  was 
earnest  and  energetic  and  honest  in  Ireland 
sought  relief  for  her  misery  in  desperate  enter- 
prises, or  stood  aside  until  better  days  and  more 
auspicious  stars.  Then  the  landlords  of  the  coun- 
try remained  entirely,  or  almost  entirely,  aloof 
from  the  popular  movements.  With  the  singlfe 
exception  of  the  late  Mr.  George  Henry  Moore, 
the  representation  of  Ireland  was  abandoned  by 
the  country  gentlemen,  who  in  other  times  had 
occasionally  rushed  out  of  their  own  ranks  and 
taken  up  the  side  of  the  people.  It  is  a  curious 
fact,  but  the  man  who,  perhaps,  had  more  influ- 
ence than  almost  any  other  in  bringing  Mr.  Par- 
nell  into  the  arena  of  Irish  nationality,  has  himself 
proved  a  recreant  to  the  cause. 

In  1 87 1  was  fought  the  Kerry  election.  This 
election  marked  one  of  the  turning-points  in  the 
modern  history  of  Ireland.  During  the  Fenian 
trials  Isaac  Butt  was  the  most  prominent  figure  in 
defending  the  prisoners.  He  was  a  man  who  had 
started  life  with  great  expectations  and  supreme 
talents.  Before  he  was  many  years  in  Trinity 
College,  Ireland's  oldest  university,  he  was  a  pro- 
fessor; he  had  been  only  six  years  at  the  bar 
when  he  was  made  a  Queen's  counsel.  He  was 
the  son  of  a  Protestant  rector  of  the  North  of  Ire- 
land, and  adhered  for  some  years  to  the  prejudices 
in  which  he  had  been  reared.     In  his  early  days 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  45 

every  good  thing  in  Ireland  belonged  to  the 
Protestants.  The  Catholics  were  an  outlawed 
and  alien  race  in  their  own  country.  O'Connell, 
not  many  years  before,  had  carried  Catholic 
emancipation,  but  Catholic  emancipation  was  alive 
only  in  the  letter.  The  offices — the  judgeships, 
the  fellowships  in  Trinity  College,  the  shrievalties, 
everything  of  value  or  power — were  still  exclusive- 
ly in  the  hands  of  the  Protestants.  O'Connell,  in 
1843,  was  so  thoroughly  sick  and  tired  of  vain  ap- 
peals to  the  English  Legislature  that  he  resolved 
to  start  once  again  a  demand  for  a  native  Irish 
Legislature.  He  opened  the  agitation  by  a  de- 
bate in  the  Dublin  Corporation,  and  Butt,  who  was 
a  member  of  that  body,  though  he  was  but  a 
young  man,  was  chosen  by  the  Conservatives  to 
oppose  O'Conmell,  and  delivered  a  speech  so 
effective  that  O'Connell  himself  complimented  his 
youthful  opponent,  and  foretold  the  advent  of  a 
time  when  Butt  himself  would  be  among  the  ad- 
vocates instead  of  the  opponents  of  an  Irish  Leg- 
islature. It  was  not  till  a  quarter  of  a  century 
afterward  that  this  prophecy  was  realized.  Butt, 
immediately  after  the  Fenian  trials,  began  an 
agitation  for  amnesty,  and  in  this  way  gradually 
went  forward  to  a  primary  place  in  the  confidence 
and  in  the  affections  of  his  countrymen.  There 
were  still  some  people  who  believed  in  the  power 
and  the  willingness  of  the  English  Parliament  to 
redress  all  the  wrongs  of  Ireland,  and  there  was 


44  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

some  justification  for  this  faith  in  the  fact  that 
William  Ewart  Gladstone  was  then  at  the  head  of 
the  English  state,  and  was  passing  the  Disestab- 
lishment of  the  Irish  Church,  the  Land  Act  of 
1870,  and  the  Ballot  Act,  three  measures  which 
mark  the  renaissance  of  Irish  nationality.  But 
one  of  these  very  measures  Isaac  Butt  was  able 
to  show  was  the  very  strongest  proof  of  the  neces- 
sity for  an  Irish  Legislature.  The  Land  Act  of 
1870  is  an  act  the  defects  of  which  have  passed 
from  the  region  of  controversy.  Mr.  Gladstone 
himself  offered  the  strongest  proof  of  its  break- 
down by  proposing  in  1881  an  entirely  different 
Land  Act.  In  fact  it  would  not  be  impossible  to 
show  that  in  some  respects  the  Land  Act  of  1870 
aggravated  instead  of  mitigated  the  evils  of  Irish 
land  tenure.  It  put  no  restraint  on  the  raising  of 
rents,  and  rents  were  raised  more  mercilessly  than 
ever ;  it  impeded,  but  it  did  not  arrest  eviction  ;  it 
caused  as  much  emio^ration  from  Ireland  as  ever.. 
Yet  all  Ireland  had  unanimously  demanded  a  dif- 
ferent bill.  Mass-meetings  all  over  the  country 
had  demonstrated  the  wish  of  the  people,  and  ex- 
pectation had  been  wrought  to  a  high  point.  The 
fruit  of  it  all  had  been  the  halting  and  miserable 
measure  of  1870. 

It  was  this  fact  that  gave  the  farmers  into  the 
hands  of  Butt.  The  population  of  the  towns  was 
always  ready  to  receive  and  to  support  any  Na- 
tional leader  who  advocated  an  Irish  Parliament ; 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  45 

indeed  there  is  scarcely  a  year  since  the  Act  of 
Union  in  1800  when  the  overwhehning  majority 
of  the  Irish  people  were  not  in  favor  of  the  resto- 
ration of  an  Irish  Parliament.  A.t  that  moment, 
too,  another  force  was  working  in  favor  of  a  re- 
newed aeitation  for  Home  Rule.  The  Protestants 
were  bitterly  exasperated  by  the  Disestablishment 
of  the  Irish  Church.  Some  of  the  more  extreme 
Orangemen  had  made  the  same  threats  then  as 
they  are  making  now,  and,  while  professing  the 
strongest  loyalty  to  the  Queen,  had  used  lan- 
guage of  vehement  disloyalty.  For  instance,  one" 
Orange  clergyman  had  declared  that  if  the  Queen 
should  consent  to  the  Disestablishment,  the 
Orangemen  would  throw  her  crown  into  the 
Boyne.  To  the  Irish  Protestants  Butt  could  ap- 
peal with  more  force  than  any  other  man.  He 
was  an  Irish  Protestant  himself,  brought  up  in 
their  religious  creed  and  in  their  political  preju- 
dices. He  made  the  appeal  with  success,  and  it 
was  Irish  Protestants  that  took  the  largest  share 
in  starting  the  great  Irish  movement  of  to-day. 
The  Home  Rule  movement  received  definite  form 
for  the  first  time  at  a  meetin^r  in  the  Bilton  Hotel 
on  May  19,  1870.  It  was  held  in  the  Bilton 
Hotel  in  Sackville  (now  O'Connell)  street,  and 
among  those  who  were  present  and  took  a  promi- 
nent part  were  Isaac  Butt,  a  Protestant ;  the  Rev. 
Joseph  Galbraith,  a  Protestant  clergyman  and  a 
Fellow  of  Trinity  College ;  Mr.  Purdon,  a  Prot- 


46  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

estant,  and  then  Conservative  Lord  Mayor  of 
Dublin ;  Mr.  Kinahan,  a  Protestant,  who  had  been 
High  Sheriff  of  Dublin ;  Major  Knox,  a  Protes- 
tant, and  the  proprietor  of  the  Irish  Times,  the 
chief  Conservative  organ  of  Dublin,  and  finally 
Colonel  King  Harman,  a  Protestant,  w\\o  has 
since  gone  over  to  the  enemy  and  become  one  of 
the  bitterest  opponents  of  the  movement  which  he 
was  largely  responsible  in  starting. 

It  was  a  Protestant,  too,  that  won  a  victory  that 
was  decisive.  In  1871  there  was  a  vacancy  in  the 
representation  of  the  County  of  Kerry.  At  once 
the  new  movement  resolved  to  make  an  appeal 
to  the  constituency  in  the  name  of  the  revived  de- 
mand for  the  restoration  of  an  Irish  Parliament. 
The  friends  of  Whiggery,  on  the  other  hand, 
were  just  as  resolved  that  the  old  bad  system 
should  be  defended  vigorously.  And  this  elec- 
tion at  Kerry  deserves  to  be  gravely  dwelt  on  by 
those  who  regard  the  present  movement  as  a  sec- 
tarian and  a  distinctly  Catholic  movement.  The 
Whig  candidate  was  a  Catholic — Mr.  James  Ar- 
thur Dease,  a  man  of  property,  of  great  intellect- 
ual powers,  and  of  a  stainless  character  ;  and  Mr. 
Dease  was  supported  vehemently  and  passion- 
ately  by  Dr.  Moriarty,  the  Catholic  Bishop  of  the 
Diocese  of  Kerry.  The  Home  Rule  candidate  on 
the  other  hand  was  a  Protestant — Mr.  Rowland 
Ponsonby  Blennerhassett ;  and  he  had  but  few  ad- 
herents among  the  Catholic  clergy  of  the  diocese : 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  47 

and  the  clergy  who  did  support  him  fell  under 
the  displeasure  of  their  bishop.  The  struggle 
was  fought  out  with  terrible  energy  and  much 
bitterness ;  the  end  was  that  the  feeling  of  Na- 
tionality triumphed  over  all  the  influence  of  the 
British  authorities  and  of  the  Catholic  bishop,  and 
Blennerhassett,  the  Protestant  Home  Rule  candi- 
date, was  returned. 

Blennerhassett  belonged  to  the  same  class  as 
Mr.  Parnell.  He  was  a  landlord,  a  Protestant,  and 
a  Home  Ruler.  Mr.  Parnell  was  a  landlord,  a 
Protestant,  iand  a  Home  Ruler.  The  time  had  ap- 
parently come  when  constitutional  agitation  had  a 
fair  chance  ;  and  when  men  of  property  who  sym- 
pathized with  the  people  would  be  welcomed  into 
the  National  ranks.  A  few  years  after  this  came 
the  general  election  of  1874;  and  Mr,  Parnell 
thought  that  his  time  of  self-distrust  and  hesita- 
tion had  passed ;  and  that  he  might  put  himself 
forward  as  a  National  candidate.  But  his  chance 
was  destroyed  by  a  small  technicality  of  which 
the  government  took  advantage.  It  is  the  cus- 
tom in  Ireland  to  appoint  young  men  of  station 
and  property  to  the  position  of  high  sheriffs  of 
the  counties  in  which  they  live.  The  high  sheriff 
cannot  stand  for  the  constituency  in  which  he 
holds  office  unless  he  be  permitted  by  the  Crown 
to  resign  his  office.  Mr.  Parnell  applied  for  this 
permission  and  was  refused.  And  thus  in  all 
probability  he  was  unable  to  represent  his  native 


48  GLADSTONE— PARN  ELL. 

county  in  Parliament.  But  he  had  not  long  to 
wait.  When  a  member  of  Parliament  accepts 
office  he  has  to  resio-n  his  seat  in  the  British 
Parliament  and  submit  himself  once  more  to  the 
votes  of  his  constituency.  A  Colonel  Taylor,  a 
veteran  and  rather  stupid  hack  of  the  Tory  party, 
was  promoted  by  Mr,  Disraeli  to  the  position  of 
Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster — a  well- 
paid  sinecure — after  many  years'  service  as  one 
of  the  whips  of  the  party.  Colonel  Taylor  was 
member  for  County  Dublin.  He  had  to  seek 
re-election  on  his  appointment  to  the  chancellor- 
ship ;  and  Mr.  Parnell  resolved  to  oppose  him. 

Mr.  Parnell  was  beaten,  of  course,  by  a  huge 
majority ;  for  in  those  days,  though  the  majority 
of  the  people  of  County  Dublin  were,  as  they  are 
now,  energetic  Nationalists,  the  franchise  suffrage 
was  so  restricted  that  a  small  minority  was  able 
to  always  win  the  seat.  But  Mr.  Parnell  had 
borne  himself  well  in  the  struggle  ;  and  though  he 
was  held  to  be  absolutely  devoid  of  speaking 
power,  yet  he  made  many  friends  and  admirers 
by  the  pluck  with  which  he  fought  a  forlorn 
hope.  The  next  year  the  man  who  had  been 
chiefly  Instrumental  In  bringing  him  Into  public 
life  died — honest  John  Martin.  At  the  time  of 
his  death  John  Martin  was  member  for  County 
Meath.  The  county,  always  strongly  National, 
looked  for  a  man  capable  of  stepping  into  the  place 
of  a  noble  patriot.     Parnell  was  selected. 


THE   GREAT  IRISH  STRUGGLE.  49 

'  Parnell  was  now  at  last  embarked  on  the  career 
of  an  Irish  pohtician.  He  had  not  been  long  in 
the  House  when  he  discovered  that  thinp-s  were 
not  as  they  should  be,  and  that  the  movement, 
though  it  appeared  powerful  to  the  outside  pub- 
lic, was  internally  weak  and  to  some  extent  even 
rotten.  Butt,  the  leader  of  the  Irish  party,  was  a 
man  of  great  intellectual  powers,  and  was  hon- 
estly devoted  to  the  success  of  the  cause.  He 
was  ready  also  to  work  very  hard  himself,  and  he 
drafted  all  the  bills  that  were  brought  in  on  va- 
rious subjects  by  his  followers.  But  he  was  old, 
had  lived  an  exhausting  life,  was  steeped  in  debt, 
and  had  to  divide  his  time  and  energies  between 
the  calls  of  his  profession  as  a  lawyer  and  his 
duties  as  a  legislator.  Such  double  calls  are 
especially  harassing  in  the  case  of  a  man  who  is  at 
once  an  Irish  lawyer  and  an  'Irish  politician.  The 
law  courts  are  in  Dublin,  the  imperial  Parliament 
is  in  London;  the  journey  between  the  two  cities, 
part  by  sea  and  part  by  land,  is  fatiguing  even  to 
a  young  man,  and  thus  it  was  quite  impossible  that 
Butt  could  attend  to  his  duties  as  a  lawyer  in 
Dublin  and  as  a  politician  in  London  without 
damage  to  both.  This  seriously  interfered  with 
his  efficiency,  and  was  partly  accountable  for  the 
break-down  of  himself  and  his  party. 

But  he  had,  besides,  personal  defects  thet  made 
him  unfit  for  difficult  and  stormy  times.  He  was 
a  soft-tempered,  easy-going  man  who  was  without 


50  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

much  moral  courage,  incapable  of  saying  No,  and 
with  a  thousand  amiable  weaknesses  which  leaned 
to  virtue's  side  as  a  man,  but  were  far  from  vir- 
tuous in  the  politician.  As  a  speaker  he  was  the 
most  persuasive  of  men.  He  discussed  with  such 
candor,  with  such  logic,  with  temper  so  beautiful, 
that  even  his  bitterest  opponents  had  to  listen  to 
him  with  respect.  But  the  House  of  Commons 
has  respect  only  for  men  who  have  votes  behind 
them,  and  can  turn  divisions,  and  Butt  was  unable 
to  turn  divisions. 

This  brings  us  to  the  second  defect  in  the  Home 
Rule  party  of  Butt.  Most  of  his  followers  were 
rotten  office-seekers.  When  in  1874  Butt  had  an 
opportunity  of  getting  a  party  elected  he  was 
beset  by  the  great  weakness  of  all  Irish  move- 
ments^-the  want  of  money.  The  electoral  insti- 
tutions of  England  were,  and  to  a  certain  extent 
still  are,  such  as  to  make  political  careers  impossi- 
ble to  any  but  the  rich  or  the  fairly  rich.  The 
costs  of  election  are  large,  members  of  Parliarhent 
have  no  salary,  and  living  in  London  is  dear;  and 
thus  as  a  rule  nobody  has  any  chance  of  entering 
into  political  life  unless  he  has  a  pretty  full  purse. 
The  result  was  that  when  the  contest  came  Butt 
was  in  a  painful  dilemma.  The  constituencies 
were  aH  rigrht,  and  were  willin^f  to  return  an  hon- 
est  Nationalist,  but  there  were  no  honest  candi- 
dates, for  there  was  no  prospect  but  starvation  to 
anybody  who  entered  into  political  life  without 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  51 

considerable  means.     Butt  himself  was  terribly 
pressed  for  money  at  that  very  moment.     He  had 
to  fly  from  a  warrant  for  debt  on  the  very  morn- 
ing when  Mr.  Gladstone's  manifesto  was  issued, 
and  John   Barry,   now  one  of  the  members  for 
County  Wexford,  tells  an  amusing  tale  of  how  he 
received  the  then  Irish  leader  in  the  early  morn 
at  Manchester,  where  Barry  lived.     It  was  from 
Enofland  that  Mr.  Butt  had  to  direct  the  electoral 
campaign,  and  his  resources  for  the  whole  thing 
amounted  to  a  few  hundred  pounds.     To  Ameri- 
can  readers  these  facts  ought  especially  to  be 
told,  for  they  serve  two  objects:  First,  they  show 
how  it  is  that  though  the  feeling  of  Ireland  has 
always  been  strongly  National,  representatives  of 
these  opinions  have  not  found  a  place  in  Parlia- 
ment until  a  comparatively  recent  period;    and 
secondly,  because  they  bring  out  clearly  the  enor- 
mous influence  which  America  has  exercised  in  the 
later  phases  of  Irish  policy  by  her  generous  sub- 
scriptions to  the  combatants  for  human  rights  and 
human  liberty  in  Ireland. 

The  result  of  all  these  circumstances  was  that 
Butt  was  compelled  to  fight  constituencies  with 
such  men  as  turned  up,  and  in  the  majority  of 
cases  to  be  satisfied  with  the  old  men  under  new 
pledges.  Of  course,  these  old  representatives 
were  quite  as  ready  to  adopt  the  new  princi- 
ples of  Home  Rule  as  they  would  have  adopted 
any  other  principles  that  secured  them  re-election, 


52  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

and  through  re-election  the  opportunity  of  selling 
themselves  for  office.  Many  of  the  members  of 
the  Home  Rule  party  of  1874  were  men,  accord- 
ingly, who  had  been  twenty  or  thirty  years  engaged 
in  the  ignoble  work  of  seeking  pay  or  pensions 
from  the  British  authorities,  and  as  ready  as  ever 
to  sell  themselves.  Of  course,  such  a  spirit  was 
entirely  destructive  of  any  chance  of  getting  real 
good  from  Parliament.  The  English  ministers 
felt  that  they  were  dealing  with  a  set  of  men 
whose  votes  they  could  buy,  and  were  not  going 
to  take  any  steps  for  the  redress  of  the  grievances 
of  a  country  that  was  thus  represented. 

It  was  no  wonder,  then,  that  w^hen  Mr.  Parnell 
entered  Parliament  he  at  once  beg-an  to  meet  with 
painful  disillusions.  Mr.  Butt's  plan  of  action  was 
to  bring  forward  measures,  to  have  them  skilfully 
and  temperately  discussed,  and  then  to  submit  to 
the  vote  when  it  went  against  him.  The  Home 
Rule  question  was  opened  every  year.  Mr.  Butt 
himself  introduced  the  subject  In  a  speech  of-great 
constitutional  knowledge,  of  Intense  closeness  of 
reasoning,  and  of  a  statesmanship  the  sagacity  of 
which  is  now  proved  by  the  adoption  of  Butt's 
views  by  the  leading  statesmen  of  England.  Then 
the  leaders  of  both  the  English  parties  got  up; 
each  In  turn  condemned  the  proposal  with  equal 
emphasis;  the  division  was  called;  Whig  and 
Tory  went  into  the  same  lobby;  the  poor  Irish 
party  was  borne  down  by  hundreds  of  English 


THE  GREAT  IRISH  STRUGGLE.  55 

votes,  and  Home  Rule  was  dead  for  another  year. 
Parnell's  mind  is  eminendy  practical.  Great 
speeches,  splendid  meetings,  imposing  proces- 
sions— all  these  thinors  are  as  nothing:  to  him 
unless  they  bring  material  results.  He  was  as 
great  an  admirer  as  anybody  else  of  the  genius 
of  Isaac  Butt,  but  he  could  see  no  good  whatever 
in  great  speeches  and  full-dress  debates  that  left 
the  Irish  question  exactly  where  it  was  before. 
He  saw,  too,  that  Isaac  Butt  was  the  victim  of  one 
great  illusion.  Butt  founded  his  whole  policy  on 
appeals  to  and  faith  in  the  reason  of  the  House 
of  Commons.  Parnell  saw  very  clearly  that  at 
that  period  the  keeper  of  the  conscience  in  the 
House  of  Commons  on  the  Irish  question  was  the 
division  lobby.  "Appeal  to  the  good  sense  and 
good  feeling  of  the  House  of  Commons."  said 
Butt;  and  the  House  of  Commons  replied  by 
quietly  but  effectually  telling  him  that  it  didn't 
care  a  pin  about  his  feelings  or  his  opinions — its 
resolution  was  fixed  never  to  grant  Home  Rule 
to  Ireland.  Parnell  naturally  began  to  think  of 
an  opposite  policy.  "Attack  the  House  through 
its  own  interests  and  convenience,"  said  he  to 
Butt,  "and  then  you  need  not  beg  it — you  can 
force  it  to  listen." 

When  Parnell  entered  into  Parliament  there 
was  already  another  member  there  whose  mind 
was  of  an  even  more  realistic  order  than  his  own. 
At  the  general  election  of  1874  Joseph  Gillis  Big- 


56  QLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

gar  had  been  returned  for  the  County  of  Cavan. 
Biggar  is  an  excellent  type  of  the  hard-headed 
Northerner.  He  was  all  his  life  in  the  pork 
trade,  and  had  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the 
closest,  keenest  and  most  successful  business  men 
of  Belfast.  Biggar  is  not  a  man  who  has  read 
much — he  does  not  even  read  the  newspapers 
which  contain  attacks  upon  himself;  but  he  has 
an  extremely  shrewd,  penetrating  mind,  a  judg- 
ment that  is  often  narrow  but  is  nearly  always 
sound,  and  that  once  formed  is  unchangeable  by 
friend  or  foe.  But  above  all  things,  Biororar  has 
extraordinary  and  marvellous  courage.  This 
courage  exhibits  itself  in  small  as  well  as  in  big 
things.  He  has  the  courage  to  refuse  an  exorbi- 
tant fare  to  a  cabman  or  a  fee  to  a  waiter;  will 
oppose  the  best  friend  as  readily  as  the  bitterest 
enemy  if  he  think  him  wrong;  can  speak  unpleas- 
ant truths  without  the  least  qualms;  and  is  not  so 
much  indifferent  as  unconscious  of  what  other 
people  say  about  him.  In  these  respects  he  was 
the  very  opposite  of  poor  Butt,  who  was  childishly 
sensitive  to  opinion  either  of  friend  or  foe.  Big- 
gar had  been  gready  disgusted  with  the  way 
things  were  going  in  the  House  of  Commons  even 
before  Parnell  had  become  his  colleague.  He 
has  a  wonderfully  keen  eye  in  seeing  through 
falsehood  and  pretense,  and  if  he  be  once  con- 
vinced that  a  man  is  dishonest  he  loathes  him  for- 
ever afterwards. 


THE  GREAT  IRISH  STRUGGLE.  57 

Joseph  Gillis  Biggar  was  born  in  Belfast,  on 
August  I,  1828.  He  was  educated  at  the  Belfast 
Academy,  where  he  remained  from  1832  to  1844. 
The  record  of  his  school-days  is  far  from  satisfac- 
tory. He  was  very  indolent — at  least  he  says  so 
himself — he  showed  no  great  love  of  reading — 
he  was  poor  at  composition,  and,  of  course,  ab- 
jectly hopeless  at  elocution.  The  one  talent  he 
did  exhibit  was  a  talent  for  figures.  It  was,  per- 
haps, this  want  of  any  particular  success  in  learn- 
ing, as  well  as  delicacy  of  health,  which  made  Mr. 
Biggar's  parents  conclude  that  he  had  better  be 
removed  from  school  and  placed  at  business.  He 
was  taken  into  his  father's  office  in  the  provision 
trade,  and  he  continued  as  assistant  until  1861, 
when  he  became  head  of  the  firm. 

Mr.  Biggar's  first  attempt  to  enter  Parliament 

was  made  at  Londonderry  in  1872.     He  had   not 

the  least  idea  of  being  successful ;  but  he  had  at 

this  time  mentally  formulated  the  policy  which  he 

has  since  carried  out  with  inflexible  purpose — he 

preferred  the  triumph  of  an  open  enemy  to  that 

of  a  half-hearted  friend.     The   candidates  were 

Mr.  Lewis,  Mr.  (afterwards  Chief  Baron)   Palles, 

and  Mr.  Bis^Qrar.     At  that  moment  Mr.  Palles,  as 

Attorney-General,  was  prosecuting  Dr.  Duggan 

and  other  Catholic  bishops  for  the  part  they  had 

taken  in  the  famous  Galway  election  of  Colonel 

Nolan — and  Mr.  BIo^2:ar  made  it  a  first  and  indis- 

pensable  condition  of  his  withdrawing  from  the 
4 


58  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

contest  that  these  prosecutions  should  be  dropped. 
Mr.  Palles  refused;  Mr.  Biggar  received  only  89 
votes,  but  the  Whig  was  defeated,  and  he  was 
satisfied.  The  bold  fight  he  had  made  marked 
out  Mr.  Biggar  as  the  man  to  lead  one  of  the  as- 
saults which  at  this  time  the  rising  Home  Rule 
party  was  ^beginning  to  make  on  the  seats  of 
Whig  and  Tory.  He  himself  was  in  favor  of  try- 
ing his  hand  on  some  place  where  the  fighting 
would  be  really  serious,  and  he  had  an  idea  of 
contesting  Monaghan.  When  the  general  elec- 
tion of  1874,  however,  came,  it  was  represented 
to  Mr.  Bipfear  that  he  would  better  serve  the 
cause  by  standing  for  Cavan.  He  was  nominated, 
and  returned,  and  member  for  Cavan  he  has  since 
remained.  Finally,  let  the  record  of  the  purely 
personal  part  of  Mr.  Biggar's  history  conclude 
with  mention  of  the  fact  that,  in  the  January  of 
1877,  he  was  received  into  the  Catholic  Church. 
The  change  of  creed  for  a  time  produced  a  slight 
estrangement  between  himself  and  the  other 
members  of  his  family,  who  were  staunch  Ulster 
Presbyterians,  and  there  were  not  wanting  mali- 
cious intruders  who  sought  to  widen  the  breach. 
But  this  unpleasantness  soon  passed  away,  and 
Mr.  Biggar  is  now  on  the  very  best  of  terms  with 
his  relatives. 

Not  lonof  after  the  niorht  of  Mr.  Bicrorar's  cele- 
brated  four  hours'  speech,  a  young  Irish  member 
took  his  seat  for  the  first  time.     This  was  Mr. 


THE  GREAT  IRISH    STRUGGLfe.  59 

Parnell,  elected  for  the  county  of  Meath  in  suc- 
cession to  John  Martin.  The  veteran  and  incor- 
ruptible patriot  had  died  a  few  days  before  the 
opening  of  this  new  chapter  in  Irish  struggle. 
There  was  a  strange  fitness  in  his  end.  John 
Mitchel  had  been  returned  for  the  county  of  Tip- 
perary  in  1875.  After  twenty-six  years  of  exile 
he  had  paid  a  brief  visit  to  his  native  country  in 
the  previous  year.  He  had  triumphed  at  last 
over  an  unjust  sentence,  penal  servitude,  and  the 
weary  waiting  of  all  these  hapless  years,  and  had 
been  selected  as  its  representative  by  the  premier 
constituency  of  Ireland.  But  the  victory  came 
too  late.  When  he  reached  Ireland  to  fight  the 
election  he  was  a  dying  man.  A  couple  of  weeks 
after  his  return  to  his  native  land  he  was  seized 
with  his  last  illness,  and  after  a  few  days  suc- 
cumbed, in  the  home  of  his  early  youth  and  sur- 
rounded by  some  of  his  earliest  friends.  John 
Martin  had  been  brought  by  Mitchel  into  the  na- 
tional faith  when  they  were  both  young  men. 
They  had  been  sentenced  to  transportation  about 
the  same  time ;  they  had  married  two  sisters  ;  they 
had  both  remained  inflexibly  attached  to  the  same 
national  faith  throughout  the  long  years  of  dis- 
aster that  followed  the  breakdown  of  their  at- 
tempted revolution.  Martin,  though  very  ill,  and 
in  spite  of  the  most  earnest  remonstrances  of 
friends,  went  over  to  be  present  at  the  death-bed 
of  his  life-long  leader  and  friend. 


60  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

At  the  funeral  he  caught  cold,  sickened,  and  in 
a  few  days  died.  He  was  buried  close  to  Mitchel's 
grave. 

After  Mr.  Parnell's  first  election  to  Parliament, 
he,  in  common  with  his  associate,  Mr.  Biggar,  was 
deeply  impressed  by  considering  the  impotence 
that  had  fallen  upon  the  Irish  party.  Both  were 
men  eager  for  practical  results,  and  debates,  how- 
ever ornate  and  eloquent,  which  resulted  in  no 
benefit,  appeared  to  them  the  sheerest  waste  of 
time,  and  a  mockery  of  their  country's  hopes  and 
demands.  Probably  they  drifted  into  the  policy 
of  "  obstruction,"  so  called,  rather  than  pursued  it 
in  accordance  with  a  definite  plan  originally 
thought  out.  There  was  in  the  Irish  party  at  this 
time  a  man  who  had  formulated  the  idea  from 
close  reflection  on  the  methods  of  Parliament. 
This  was  Mr.  Joseph  Ronayne,  who  had  been  an 
enthusiastic  Young  Irelander,  and  though,  amid  the 
disillusions  that  followed  the  breakaown  of  1848, 
he  had  probably  bidden  farewell  forever  to 
armed  insurrection  as  a  method  for  redressinor 
Irish  grievances,  he  still  held  by  an  old  and  stern 
gospel  of  Irish  nationality,  and  thought  that  polit- 
ical ends  were  to  be  gained  not  by  soft  words,  but 
by  stern  aijd  relentless  acts.  He,  if  anybody,  de- 
serves the  credit  of  having  pointed  out,  first  to 
Mr.  Biggar  and  then  to  Mr.  Parnell,  the  methods 
of  action  which  have  since  proved  so  effective  in 
the  cause  of  Ireland. 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  61 

When  one  now  looks  back  upon  the  task 
which  these  two  men  set  themselves,  it  will 
appear  one  of  the  boldest,  most  difficult,  and 
most  hopeless  that  two  individuals  ever  proposed 
to  themselves  to  work  out. 

They  set  out,  two  of  them,  to  do  battle  against 
650 ;  they  had  before  them  enemies  who,  in  the 
ferocity  of  a  common  hate  and  a  common  terror, 
forgot  old  quarrels  and  obliterated  old  party  lines  ; 
while  among  their  own  party  there  were  false  men 
who  hated  their  honesty  and  many  true  men  who 
doubted  their  sagacity.  In  this  work  of  theirs 
they  had  to  meet  a  perfect  hurricane  of  hate  and 
abuse ;  they  had  to  stand  face  to  face  with  the 
practical  omnipotence  of  the  mightiest  of  modern 
empires ;  they  were  accused  of  seeking  to  tram- 
ple on  the  power  of  the  English  House  of  Com- 
mons, and  six  centuries  of  parliamentary  govern- 
ment looked  down  upon  them  in  menace  and  in 
reproach.  In  carrying  their  mighty  enterprise, 
Mr.  Parnell  and  Mr.  Biggar  had  to  undergo 
labors  and  sacrifices  that  only  those  acquainted 
with  the  inside  life  of  Parliament  can  fully  appre- 
ciate. Those  who  undertook  to  conquer  the 
House  of  Commons  had  first  to  conquer  much  of 
the  natural  man  in  themselves.  The  .House  of 
Commons  is  the  arena  which  gives  the  choicest 
food  to  the  intellectual  vanity  of  the  British  sub- 
ject, and  the  House  of  Commons  loves  and  re- 
spects only  those  who  love  and  respect  it.     But 


:62  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

the  first  principle  of  the  active  poHcy  was  that 
there  should  be  absohite  indifference  to  the  opin- 
ion of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  so  vanity  had 
first  to  be  crushed  out.  Then  the  active  poHcy 
demanded  incessant  attendance  in  the  House,  and 
incessant  attendance  in  the  House  amounts  almost 
to  a  punishment.  And  the  active  poHcy  required, 
in  addition  to  incessant  attendance,  considerable 
preparation ;  and  so  the  idleness,  which  is  the 
most  potent  of  all  human  passions,  had  to  be 
gripped  and  strangled  with  a  merciless  hand. 
And  finally,  there  was  to  be  no  shrinking  from 
speech  or  act  because  it  disobliged  one  man  or 
offended  another;  and  therefore,  kindliness  of 
feeling  was  to  be  watched  and  guarded  by  re- 
morseless purpose.  The  three  years  of  fierce 
conflict,  of  labor  by  day  and  by  night,  and  of  iron 
resistance  to  menace,  or  entreaty,  or  blandish- 
ment, must  have  left  many  a  deep  mark  in  mind 
and  in  body.  "  Parnell,"  remarked  one  of  his  fol- 
lowers in  the  House  of  Commons  one  day,  as  the 
Irish  leader  entered  with  pallid  and  worn  face, 
"  Parnell  has  done  mighty  things,  but  he  had  to 
go  through  fire  and  water  to  do  them." 

Mr.  Biggar  was  heard  of  before  Mr.  Parnell 
had  made  himself  known  ;  and  to  estimate  his 
character — and  it  is  a  character  worth  study — one 
must  read  carefully,  and  by  the  light  of  the 
present  day,  the  events  of  the  period  at  which  he 
first  started  on  his  enterprise.     In  the  session  of 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  63 

1875  he  was  constantly  heard  of;  on  April  27  in 
that  session  he  "  espied  strangers ; "  and,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  then  existing  Vules  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  all  the  occupants  of  the  different 
galleries,  excepting  those  of  the  ladies'  gallery, 
had  to  retire.  The  Prince  of  Wales  was  among 
the  distinguished  visitors  to  the  assembly  on  this 
particular  evening,  a  fact  which  added  considera- 
ble effect  to  the  proceeding  of  the  member  for 
Cavan.  At  once  a  storm  burst  upon  him,  be- 
neath which  even  a  very  strong  man  might  have 
bent.  Mr.  Disraeli,  the  Prime  Minister,  got  up, 
amid  cheers  from  all  parts  of  the  House,  to  de- 
nounce this  outrage  upon  its  dignity ;  and  to  mark 
the  complete  union  of  the  two  parties  against  the 
daring  offender.  Lord  Hartington  rose  imme- 
diately afterwards.  Nor  were  these  the  only 
quarters  from  which  attack  came.  Members  of 
his  own  party  joined  in  the  general  assault  upon 
the  audacious  violator  of  the  tone  of  the  House. 
Mr.  Biggar  was,  above  all  other  things,  held  to  be 
wantinof  in  the  insdncts  of  a  gentleman.  "  I 
think,"  said  the  late  Mr.  George  Bryan,  another 
member  of  Mr.  Butt's  party,  *'that  a  man  should 
be  a  gentleman  first  and  a  patriot  afterwards,"  a 
statement  which  was,  of  course,  received  with 
wild  cheers.  Finally,  the  case  was  summed  up 
by  Mr.  Chaplin.  "The  honorable  member  for 
Cavan,"  said  he,  '•  appears  to  forget  that  he  is  now 
admitted  to  the  society  of  gentlemen."     This  was 


64  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

one  of  the  many  allusions,  fashionable  at  the 
time — among  genteel  journalists  especially — to 
Mr.  Biggar's  occupation.  It  was  his  heinous  of- 
fence to  have  made  his  money  in  the  wholesale 
pork  trade.  Caste  among  business  men  and 
their  families  is  regulated,  both  in  England  and 
Ireland,  not  only  by  the  distinction  between 
wholesale  and  retail,  but  by  the  particular  article 
in  which  the  trader  is  interested.  It  was  not, 
therefore,  surprising  that  an  assembly  which  tol- 
erated the  more  aristocratic  cotton  should  turn  up 
its  indicrnant  nose  at  the  dealer  in  the  humbler 
pork.  But  much  as  the  House  of  Commons  was 
shocked  at  the  nature  of  Mr.  Biggar's  pursuits, 
the  horror  of  the  journalist  was  still  more  ex- 
treme and  outspoken.  "  Heaven  knows  "  (said  a 
writer  in  the  Wo7dd),  "that  I  do  not  scorn  a  man 
because  his  path  in  life  has  led  him  amongst  pro- 
visions. But  though  I  may  unaffectedly  honor  a 
provision  dealer  who  is  a  Member  of  Parliament, 
it  is  with  quite  another  feeling  that  I  behold  a 
Member  of  Parliament  who  is  a  provision  dealer. 
Mr.  Biggar  brings  the  manner  of  his  store  into 
this  illustrious  assembly,  and  his  manner,  even  for 
a  Belfast  store,  is  very  bad.  When  he  rises  to 
address  the  House,  which  he  did  at  least  ten 
times  to-night,  a  whiff  of  salt  pork  seems  to  float 
upon  the  gale,  and  the  air  is  heavy  with  the  odor 
of  the  kippered  herring.  One  unacquainted  with 
the  actual  condition  of  affairs  might  be  forgiven  if 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  65 

he  thought  there  had  been  a  large  failure  in  the 
bacon  trade,  and  that  the  House  of  Commons  was 
a  meeting  of  creditors,  and  the  right  honorable 
gentlemen  sitting  on  the  Treasury  Bench  were 
members  of  the  defaulting  firm,  who,  having  con- 
fessed their  inability  to  pay  ninepence  in  the 
pound,  were  suitable  and  safe  subjects  for  the 
abuse  of  an  ungenerous  creditor." 

These  words  are  here  quoted  by  way  of  illus- 
trating the  symptoms  of  the  times  through  which 
Mr.  Biggar  had  to  live,  rather  than  because  of  any 
influence  they  had  upon  him.  On  this  self-re- 
liant, firm,  and  masculine  nature  a  world  of  ene- 
mies could  make  no  impress.  He  did  not  even 
take  the  trouble  to  read  the  attacks  upon  him. 
The  newspapers  of  the  day  were  full  of  sarcasm 
against  Mr.  Biggar,  the  chief  points  made  against 
him  being  directed  at  his  alleged  "  grotesque  ap- 
pearance" and  "absurdity."  Indeed,  the  impres- 
sion made  upon  such  Americans  as  have  derived 
their  information  regarding  Irish  affairs  chiefly 
from  the  London  periodicals  has  been  that  Mr. 
Biggar  was  a  man  of  no  sort  of  intelligence,  and 
of  no  possible  weight  in  Parliamentary  counsels, 
but  that  he  was  simply  a  hornet  who  was  always 
ready  to  sting  John  Bull's  leathern  sides.  That 
this  hornet  was  a  sore  annoyance  it  was  very 
evident.  That  he  was  fearless  and  persistent 
was  equally  plain.  No  man  was  more  ready  to 
assert  Biggar's   lack  of  scholastic  acquirements 


66  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

than  he  himself  was  prompt  to  admit  the  fact. 
Even  the  proud  title  of  '*  father  of  obstruction  " 
has  been  denied  him,  since  obstructive  action  has 
long  been  recognized  as  a  legitimate  weapon  in 
the  hands  of  otherwise  hopeless  legislative  mi- 
norities. Mr.  Biggar's  real  title  to  eminence  lies 
largely  in  his  persistence.  He  Is  emphatically  a 
vir  tenax  propositi.  Others  may  have  had  more 
definite  plans  for  the  future  of  Ireland.  Others 
may  have  far  excelled  him  in  political  skill  and 
tactics.  Beyond  a  doubt  there  are  many  others 
who  surpass  him  in  the  gifts  and  graces  of 
oratorical  display.  He  does  not  despise  these 
gifts ;  he  simply  does  not  possess  them,  and  he 
knows  the  fact  right  well.  Another  point  in  his 
favor  is  his  singleness  of  purpose  and  childlike 
simplicity  of  character.  A  certain  un-Irish  insen- 
sibility to  attack  has  also  helped  Mr.  Biggar. 

The  attacks  made  in  the  House  of  Commons 
in  his  own  hearing  neither  touch  him  nor  an- 
ger him.  The  only  rancor  he  ever  feels  against 
individuals  is  for  the  evil  they  attempt  to  do  to  the 
cause  of  his  country.  This  little  man,  calmly  and 
placidly  accepting  every  humiliation  and  insult 
that  hundreds  of  foes  could  heap  upon  him,  in  the 
relentless  and  untiring  pursuit  of  a  great  purpose, 
may  by-and-by  appear,  even  to  Englishmen,  to 
merit  all  the  affectionate  respect  with  which  he 
is  regarded  by  men  of  his  own  country  and 
principles.      Before    he    was    long    a    member 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  gy 

of  Butt's  party  he  had  seen  that  more  than  half 
the  number  were  rascally  self-seekers  who  didn't 
mean  a  word  of  what  they  said,  and  who  were 
only  looking  out  for  the  opportunity  to  don  the 
English  livery. 

And  here,  perhaps,  it  would  be  as  well  to  pause 
for  a  moment  and  explain  to  an  American  reader 
what  are  the  means  which  a  British  government 
has  at  its  disposal  for  corrupting  political  oppo- 
nents. Few  Americans  realize  the  splendor  of 
the  prizes  that  are  at  the  disposal  of  the  British 
authorities.  Americans  know  that  members  of 
Parliament  are  paid  no  salary ;  they  hear  the 
boasts  of  the  enormous  and  immaculate  purity  of 
public  life  in  England;  and  they,  many  of  them, 
infer  that  political  life  in  England  is  preceded  by 
the  vows  of  purity  and  poverty.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  there  is  no  country  in  the  world  in  which 
politics  has  prizes  so  splendid  to  offer.  The  sala- 
ries reach  proportions  unexampled  in  ancient  or 
modern  times.  The  Lord  Chancellor  of  England, 
for  instance,  has  a  salary  of  fifty  thousand  dollars 
a  year  as  long  as  he  is  in  office,  and  once  he  has 
held  office — if  it  be  only  for  an  hour — he  has  a 
.pension  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  a  year  for 
the  remainder  of  his  days.  The  Lord  Chancellor, 
besides,  has  extraordinary  privileges.  He  is  the 
head  of  the  judiciary  of  the  country;  he  is  Speaker 
of  the  House  of  Lords ;  he  is  a  peer  with  right  of 
succession  to  his  children ;  he  is  a  member  of  the 


gg  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

cabinet.  The  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons 
has  a  salary  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  a 
year,  a  splendid  house  in  the  Parliament  buildings; 
fire  and  light  and  coal  free ;  and  when  he  retires 
he  gets  a  pension  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  a 
year  for  life  and  a  peerage.  Several  of  the  cab- 
inet ministers  receive  salaries  of  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars  a  year.  The  Lord  Chief-Justice 
of  the  Queen's  Bench  gets  a  salary  of  forty 
thousand  dollars  a  year,  and  the  puisne  judges 
get  a  salary  each  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars 
a  year. 

In  Ireland — one  of  the  poorest  countries  in  the 
world — the  official  salaries  are  on  almost  an  equal 
scale  of  extravagance.  The  Lord-Lieutenant  re- 
ceives a  salary  oC  one  hundred  thousand  dollars 
a  year  and  many  allowances.  The  Chief  Secre- 
tary for  Ireland  receives  a  salary  of  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars  a  year,  with  many  allowances. 
The  Lord  Chancellor  has  a  salary  of  forty  thou- 
sand dollars  a  year  during  office,  and,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  has  a 
pension  for  life  even  if  he  have  held  the  office  for 
but  an  hour;  the  pension  is  twenty  thousand  dol- 
lars a  year.  The  Chief-Justice  of  the  Queen's 
Bench  Court  has  a  salary  of  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars  a  year;  and  the  puisne  judges,  who,  as  in 
England,  hold  their  offices  for  life,  have  a  salary 
of  nineteen  thousand  dollars  a  year.  The  Attor- 
ney-General in  Ireland  has  a  nominal  salary  of 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  69 

<|^i  2,895,  t>ut  he  has  fees  besides  for  every  case  in 
which  he  prosecutes  ;  and,  as  times  of  disturbance 
bring  many  prosecutions,  he  thrives  on  the  un- 
happiness  of  the  country.  Frequently  the  salary 
of  the  Irish  Attorney-General,  in  times  of  dis- 
quiet, has  run  up  to  fifty  thousand  dollars  in  the 
year,  or  even  more.  Then,  as  everybody  knows, 
England  has  innumerable  colonies,  and  in  all  her 
colonies  there  are  richly  paid  offices.  The  average 
salary  of  a  governor  of  a  colony  is  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars,  and  there  are  chief-justiceships, 
and  puisne  judgeships,  and  lieutenant-governor- 
ships, and  a  thousand  and  one  other  things  which 
can  always  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  an  obe- 
dient and  useful  friend  of  the  administration. 

The  difficulty  of  the  Irish  struggle  will  be 
understood  when  it  is  recollected'  that,  in  antago- 
nism to  all  this,  the  Irish  people  have  nothing  to 
offer  their  faithful  servants.  In  Ireland  there  are, 
practically  speaking,  no  ofiices  in  the  gift  of  the 
people.  From  the  judgeships  down  to  a  place  in 
the  lowest  rank  of  the  police,  everything  is  in  the 
gift  of  the  British  government.  Nor  is  this  all. 
The  Irish  patriot,  up  to  the  last  year,  always  ran 
the  risk  of  collision  with  the  authorities,  and,  in 
consequence,  faced  the  chances  of  imprisonment. 
Mr,  Parnell  has  been  in  prison ;  Mr.  Dillon  has  been 
twice  in  prison  ;  Mr.  O'Kelly  has  been  in  prison  ; 
Mr.  Sexton  has  been  in  prison ;  Mr.  William 
O'Brien  has  been  in  prison ;   Mr.  Healy  has  been 


70  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

in  prison  ;  Mr.  Timothy  Harrington  has  been 
three  times  in  prison ;  Mr.  Edward  Harrington 
has  been  in  prison ;  Dr.  O'Doherty  was  sent  to 
penal  servitude  in  '48  ;  Mr.  J.  F.  X.  O'Brien  was 
sent  to  penal  servitude  in  1867,  having  first  been 
sentenced  to  be  hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered. 
Out  of  the  eighty-six  Irish  members  of  the  present 
Irish  party  no  less  than  twenty-five  have  been, 
on  one  excuse  or  other,  and  for  longer  or  shorter 
terms,  imprisoned  by  the  British  authorities.  The 
choice,  then,  of  the  Irish  politician  lay  between 
wealth,  dignity,  honors,  ease,  which  were  offered 
for  traitorous  service  by  the  British  government, 
and  the  poverty  and  hardship  and  lowliness,  with 
a  fair  prospect  of  the  workhouse  and  the  gaol, 
which  were  the  only  rewards  of  the  faithful  servant 
of  the  Irish  people.  Isaac  Butt  himself  was  a 
signal  and  terrible  example  of  what  Irish  patriot- 
ism entails.  We  have  already  described  how 
hard  he  had  to  work  in  his  closing  days  to  meet 
the  strain  of  professional  and  political  duties. 
When  he  was  wrestling  with  the  growing  disease 
that  ultimately  killed  him,  he  was  beset  by  duns 
and  bailiffs,  and  his  mind  was  overshadowed  with 
the  dread  thought  that  he  had  left  his  children 
unprovided  for.  And  to-day,  in  poverty — perhaps 
in  misery — they  are  paying  the  penalty  of  having 
been  begotten  by  a  great  and  a  true  Irishman. 
Any  man  of  political  experience  or  reading  will 
know  how  easy  it  is  for  a  government  to  rule  a 


K    O'lxiHERTY 


'^WW?^^^^^^^ 


J.  WINTER, 

Treaeurer  Victoria  Branch,  Irish  National  League. 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  73 

country  if  it  have  the  gift  of  wealth  to  bestow,  or 
the  curse  of  poverty  to  entail.  In  our  own  days 
we  have  seen  France  ruled  for  twenty  years  by 
an  autocrat  through  bayonets  and  offices  ;  and  the 
offices  were  just  as  important  an  element  in  the 
governing  as  the  bayonets.  The  fears  of  the 
timid,  the  hopes  of  the  corrupt,  are  the  founda- 
tions of  unjust  government  in  all  ages.  If  Amer- 
icans be  sometimes  impatient  at  the  duration  of 
British  domination  and  the  helplessness  of  Irish 
efforts  to  overthrow  it,  they  must  always  take  into 
account  the  vast  influence  which  an  extremely 
wealthy  country  has  been  able  to  exercise  over 
an  extremely  poor  country  by  the  gift  of  richly- 
dowered  office. 

As  soon  as  Biggar  found  that  the  new  race  of 
so-called  Nationalists  were  of  exactly  the  same 
brood  as  those  who  had  gone  before  he  made  up 
his  mind  that  these  men  would  do  nothing  for 
Ireland,  and  he  took  his  own  course.  Biggar's 
mind  is  essentially  combative.  He  is  utterly  with- 
out the  Christianity  of  spirit  that  suggests  the 
acceptance  of  a  blow  on  one  cheek  after  being 
struck  on  the  other,  and  he  was  brooding  over 
some  means  by  which  he  could  give  these  insolent 
Englishmen  blow  for  blow.  But  the  member  for 
Cavan  has  not  a  mind  of  much  initiative,  and  he 
was  helpless  until  he  had  the  assistance  of  Mr. 
Parnell. 

A  few  nights  before  Parnell  took  his  seat  the 


74  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

House  of  Commons  was  enorao-ed  in  the  not  un« 
familiar  task  of  debating  a  Coercion  Bill  for  Ire- 
land. A  Coercion  Bill  in  these  days  was  not 
thought  much  about ;  it  was  not  felt  as  much  of  a 
hardship  on  the  English  side  nor  as  much  of  an 
outrage  on  the  Irish.  Such  was  the  poor  spirit 
of  the  Irish  representatives  of  these  days  that  Sir 
Michael  Hicks-Beach,  the  Conservative  Chief 
Secretary,  who  was  passing  the  bill  through  the 
House  of  Commons,  used  frequently  to  be  com- 
plimented by  so-called  Irish  Nadonal  Represent- 
atives for  his  courtesy  ;  the  least  little  concession 
was  hailed  as  an  example  of  whole-souled  gen- 
erosity;  and  if  an  Irish  member  ventured  to  put 
the  government  to  any  inconvenience,  by  asking 
for  the  postponement  of  the  discussion  or  by 
"obstructing"  in  any  way  the  progress  of  busi- 
ness, he  was  at  once  pounced  upon  by  his  col- 
leagues and  charged  with  ungenerous  and  irra- 
tional obstinacy.  There  was  among  the  party  at 
the  time  a  shrewd  and  witty  Corkman  named 
Joseph  Ronayne.  Ronayne  had  been  one  of  the 
party  that  in  1848  wanted  to  fight  against  the 
intolerable  wrongs  of  Ireland.  Time  had  brought 
the  philosophic  mind  so  far  that  Ronayne  saw 
some  hope  in  constitutional  agitation  ;  but  he  was 
quite  as  fierce  and  quite  as  masculine  a  Nationalist 
as  ever.  He  had  a  sharp  and  humorous  tongue. 
The  compliments  that  were  poured  on  the  Eng- 
lish Chief  Secretary  at  the  moment  when  he  was 


THE  GREAT  IRISH  STRUGGLE.  75 

depriving  Irishmen  of  the  fundamental  rights 
of  citizens  roused  his  gorge,  and  he  compared 
them  to  the  shake-hands  which  the  convict  gives 
to  the  hangman  immediately  before  his  execu- 
tion. 

Biggar  was  not  the  man  to  pay  such  compli- 
ments, to  consult  the  ease  of  ministers,  or  to  have 
regard  to  what  used  to  be  called  the  tone  of  the 
House.  He  resented  frankly  and  irreconcilably 
the  coercion  of  his  country;  he  hated  the  man 
who  proposed  it ;  he  didn't  care  a  farthing  what 
the  House  of  Commons  liked  or  disliked ;  his 
policy  was  to  fight  the  bill  clause  by  clause,  line 
by  line,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  with  the  con- 
venience of  the  House  and  against  the  conven- 
ience of  the  House ;  and  with  absolute  disregard 
of  protest  or  plaint,  of  compliment  or  threat. 

It  was  on  the  night  of  April  22,  1875,  that  he 
first  got  the  opportunity  of  putting  this  policy  into 
effect.  Mr.  Butt  asked  Mr.  Biggar  to  speak 
against  time  on  a  Coercion  Bill.  Mr.  Butt  had 
probably  little  idea  at  that  moment  of  what  he 
was  doing.  It  was  on  this  eventful  night  that  one 
of  the  most  singular  and  most  potent  political 
births  of  our  time  saw  the  light.  On  that  aight 
Parliamentary  obstruction  was  born. 

Mr.  Biggar  rose  at  five  in  the  evening.  One 
of  the  writers  of  this  work  happened  to  be  in  the 
Speaker's  gallery  of  the  House  of  Commons  on 
this  evening  and  remembers  the  speech  very  well. 


76  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

The  subject  was  Irish  coercion,  but  Mr.  BIggar 
seemed  to  be  giving  his  opinion  on  every  subject 
under  heaven.  For  instance  he  happened  to 
stumble  across  something  of  a  reHgious  character, 
and  thereupon  he  gave  the  House  the  benefit  of 
his  views  on  the  great  question  of  Ritual  which 
divides  the  two  schools  of  relio^ious  thoueht  in  the 
Established  Church  of  England.  It  is  probable 
that  Mr.  Biggar  could  not  tell  the  difference  be- 
tween a  High  and  a  Low  Churchman ;  and  that 
if  he  could  know  the  difference,  he  would  not  re- 
gard it  as  of  the  least  importance.  But  he  man- 
aged to  dissertate  on  the  subject  for  several  sen- 
tences, and  so  filled  up  a  portion  of  the  time. 
At  last  his  voice  began  to  fail,  and  a  friend  who 
was  watching  the  game  resolved  to  come  to  his 
assistance.  According  to  the  rules  of  the  House 
of  Commons  forty  members  is  the  quorum  at  a 
debate.  The  forty  members  need  not  be  in  the 
House  itself.  They  may  be  dining  or  wining,  en- 
joying a  cigar  in  one  of  the  smoke-rooms  or  en- 
gaged in  study  in  a  room  in  the  library;  but  when 
a  count  is  moved  they  all  hurry  in  ;  the  Speaker 
counts;  if  there  be  forty  members  present,  the 
debate  goes  on,  and  the  greater  number  of  mem- 
bers scutde  back  to  the  half-eaten  chop  or  the 
half-smoked  cigar ;  while  if  there  be  not  forty,  the 
House  stands  adjourned.  A  count  takes  about 
five  minutes,  three  minutes  belnor  allowed  to  the 
members  to  assemble  from  the  different  places  of 


THE  GREAT  IRISH  STRUGGLE.  77 

retreat.  These  five  minutes  Mr.  Bi^o-ar  utilized 
in  recovering  breath.  But  again  his  voice  began 
to  fail,  and  the  Speaker  thought  he  had  him  in  a 
trap.  He  declared  that  the  member  for  Cavan 
was  out  of  order ;  his  remarks  were  inaudible  and 
no  longer  reached  the  chair.  But  Mr.  Biggar  was 
equal  to  the  occasion.  He  moved  up  closer  to 
the  chair,  and  as  the  Speaker  had  not  heard  his 
previous  observations  obligingly  offered  to  repeat 
them  all  over  ag^ain. 

It   was   five   minutes   to  9  o'clock  when   Mh 
Biggar  resumed  his  seat;  he  had  spoken  nearf^ 
four  hours.     This  was  the  beginning  of  the'  nfew 
era.     Hence  Mr.  Biggar  is  known  by  the  proud 
tide  of  the  "Father  of  Obstruction."     It  was  a 
few  nights  after  this  that  Charles   Stewart  P^r- 
nell  took  his  seat  for  the  first  time  as  a  membtrr 
of  the  House  of  Commons.     It  was  characteristic' 
of  his  whole  future  that  he  spoke  the  very  firSt 
night  of  his  entrance  into  the  House,  and  th^t 
his  first  speech  was  a  vigorous  protest  against  ia'' 
Coercion  Act  for  Ireland  ;  for  the  discussion  oftlie' 
question  was  still  proceeding  on  which  Mr.  Big'g?Lt 
had   made  his   historic  speech,  and  his  dogged 
courage  had  found  the   necessary  supplement' in- 
the  bold,  daring,  and  inventive  brain  of  theyourig 
member  for  County  Meath.     The  hour  had  come ; 
and  the  man. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    ERA   OF   OBSTRUCTION. 

BEFORE  the  policy  of  Parliamentary  ob- 
struction is  properly  understood  the  reader 
must  have  some  acquaintance  with  the  rules  and 
manners  of  the  British  House  of  Commons. 

The  House  of  Commons  meets  for  a  period 
generally  beginning  the  first  week  of  February, 
and  ending  in  the  second  week  of  August  each 
year.  It  meets  for  five  out  of  the  seven  days  of 
the  week  for  the  transaction  of  business.  On 
every  one  of  those  days  except  Wednesday  the 
hour  for  assembling  is  lo  minutes  to  4  o'clock. 
The  sittir^g  has  no  definite  time  of  closing,  and 
cases  have  been  known  where  it  has  been  ex- 
tended to  forty-one  hours,  or  almost  two  days, 
continuously.  The  House  cannot  adjourn  unless 
op  a  motion  carried  by  the  members  present.  So 
rigid,  is  this  rule  that  a  story  is  told  how,  on  one 
occasion,  the  Speaker  w^as  left  alone  in  his  chair; 
the ,  official  whose  duty  it  was  to  move  the  ad- 
journment having  forgotten  to  attend  to  do  so, 
and  that  official  had  to  be  sent  for,  in  order  that 
the  necessary  formality  might  be  complied  with. 
78 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  79 

On  Wednesdays   the    House   meets  at    12    and 
closes  at  6  o'clock. 

The  business  of  the  House  is  divided  into  two 
categories,  viz. :  First,  what  is  called  government 
business;  and,  secondly,  the  business  of  "private" 
members.  Mondays  and  Thursdays  throughout 
the  session  are  what  are  called  "Government 
Nisfhts,"  and  on  these  occasions  the  business  of 
the  executive  administration  has  precedence  over 
all  others.  Tuesdays  and  Fridays  are  private 
members'  nights,  and  on  these  occasions  the 
business  of  the  private  members  has  priority  over 
that  of  the  government.  On  the  nights  devoted 
to  the  private  members  the  business  usually  con- 
sists of  resolutions  upon  some  of  the  questions  of 
the  day  which  are  not  yet  actually  ripe  for  legis- 
lation. A  member  makes,  say,  a  motion  calling 
for  the  abolition  of  capital  punishment ;  or  for  a 
change  in  the  licensing  laws ;  or  for  the  cessation 
of  the  traffic  in  opium  ;  or  for  the  abolition  of  the 
House  of  Lords  ;  or  for  the  disestablishment  of 
the  church  ;  or  for  some  such  kindred  purpose. 

Members  sometimes  make  an  attempt  to  carry 
their  proposals  into  law,  and  introduce  bills  for 
that  object ;  but,  generally  speaking,  the  efforts 
of  members  are  confined  to  abstract  motions. 
Tuesday  night  belongs  entirely  to  private  mem- 
bers— the  government  not  even  making  an  at- 
tempt to  get  any  portion  of  the  time  for  the 
transacdon  of  its  own  work.     On  Friday  nights, 


,^gQ  GLADSTONE— PARNELI.. 

however,  the  government  sometimes  succeeds  in 
getting  through  a  few  of  its  proposals.  "Supply," 
or  **  appropriation  "  as  it  is  called  in  America,  is 
put  down  for  that  night.  It  is  a  principle  of  the 
Eng-Iish  Constitution  that  the  statement  of  a 
grievance  shall  precede  supply.  On  Friday 
nights,  accordingly,  before  the  government  are 
able  to  get  a  penny  of  money  from  the  House, 
they  have  to  listen  to  anything  that  a  private 
member  has  to  say.  Sometimes  half  a  dozen 
motions  on  half  a  dozen  different  subjects  are  put 
upon  the  paper,  and  are  discussed.  A  private 
member  even  has  the  right  to  stand  up  in  his 
place,  and  talk  about  any  subject  without  putting 
a  notice  upon  the  paper.  It  thus  very  often  hap- 
pens that  the  discussion  of  a  grievance  proceeds 
till  12  or  I  o'clock  at  night;  and  when  the  debate 
has  been  extended  to  this  period  the  government 
give  up  the  project  of  getting  money  ;  and  there- 
upon no  supply  is  taken  that  night. 

There  is  another  rule  which  has  a  most  im- 
portant effect  upon  the  transaction  of  business  in 
the  House  of  Commons.  This  is  "  the  half-past 
12  o'clock  rule,"  under  which  no  business  that  is 
opposed  can  be  taken.  The  Cabinet  proposes, 
for  instance,  a  bill  for  the  future  government  of 
Ireland.  At  once  a  member  of  the  Tory  party,  or 
of  the  Liberals  who  are  opposed  to  it,  puts  down 
an  "  amendment"  moving  that  the  bill  in  question 
be  read  that  day  six  months,  which  is  the  official 


THE  GREAT    IRISH    STRUGGLE.  8| 

way  of  moving  the  rejection  of  the  measure.  As 
long  as  this  amendment  appears  upon  the  paper 
the  bill  cannot  be  taken  after  half-past  1 2  o'clock 
at  night.  An  amendment  of  the  kind  is  what  is 
known  in  Parliamentary  vocabulary  as  a  "block- 
ing "  motion.  It  often  happens  that  a  bill  which 
is  very  much  objected  to  seems  to  have  a  chance  of 
coming  on  about  half-past  11  or  1 2  o'clock.  When 
this  occurs  a  number  of  members  opposed  to  it 
immediately  begin  to  talk  against  time,  with  the 
result  that  half-past  1 2  o'clock  is  reached ;  then 
the  bill  has  to  be  postponed  till  another  day. 

Wednesday,  to  a  great  extent,  is  a  dies  nmt  in 
Parliament.  It  is  entirely  given  up  to  private 
members,  and  the  subjects  discussed  are  usually 
something  in  the  nature  of  a  fad  or  crotchet  or  an 
'*  ism."  A  change  in  the  ecclesiastical  law  and 
other  pious  matters  used  to  form  the  leading  sub- 
jects of  discussion,  and  this  earned  for  Wednes- 
day the  reputation  of  being  the  special  day  for 
religious  bills.  At  a  quarter  to  6  on  the  Wednes- 
day the  debate,  if  proceeding,  has  to  cease  upon 
any  bill  which  is  the  subject  of  discussion.  Ac- 
cordingly, whenever  a  division  is  not  considered 
desirable  on  that  day,  a  speaker  will  get  up  about 

5  o'clock  or  later,  and  talk  on  until  a  quarter  to 
6.  The  debate  has  then  to  be  interrupted,  and 
thus  a  division  is  avoided.     Between  a  quarter  to 

6  and  6  business  can  be  done  to  which  no  objection 
is  made;  and  often  that  short  space  of  time  is  occu- 


82  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

pied  most  usefully  by  a  member  of  the  government 
or  private  member  in  getting  a  bill  through  its 
final  stage.  But  if  any  member  get  up  and  use 
the  words,  "I  object,"  the  bill  cannot  be  advanced 
any  stage,  and  is  postponed  till  another  day. 

The  first  thing  to  be  remembered  about  the 
House  of  Commons  is,  that  it  is  a  machine  en- 
tirely incapable  of  transacting  the  amount  of  work 
put  upon  it.  The  affairs  of  India,  colonial  rela- 
tions, international  relations,  the  domestic  affairs 
of  England,  Ireland,  Scotland,  and  Wales — all 
these  subjects  have  to  be  dealt  with  in  one  single 
Parliament.  Frequently  there  are  questions 
which  involve  such  pith  and  moment  as  a  threat- 
ened war  between  England  and  Russia,  down  to 
the  less  significant  matter  of  a  complaint  about 
the  defective  paving  of  a  street  in  London,  or  the 
neglect  of  a  pauper  in  an  Irish  workhouse. 
There  is  no  division  between  imperial  and  local 
government  such  as  there  is  in  the  United  States. 
In  fact,  the  imperial  Parliament  is  in  the  same 
position  as  the  Congress  at  Washington  would  be 
if  the  State  Legislatures  throughout  the  whole 
country  were  abolished,  and  their  work  trans- 
ferred to  the  central  assembly  in  the  national 
capitol.  The  result  of  the  arrangement  of  the 
imperial  legislature  is,  that  the  main  work  of 
government  is  to  attempt  a  victory  in  an  ever- 
failing  race  with  time.  The  history  of  every 
administration  and,  indeed,  of  every  session  of 
Parliament  Is  the  same. 


THE  GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE. 


85 


The  basis  of  the  poHcy  of  Mr.  Parnell  and  Mr. 
Biggar  was,  that  the  Irish  party  should  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  way  in  which  the  rule^  of  the  House 
of  Commons  thus  left  the  English  ministries  at 
the  mercy  of  any  resolute  body  of  men.  They 
pointed  out  to  Mr.  Butt  that  his  annual  debates 
were  not  advancing  the  Irish  cause  by  one  step, 
and  that  he  must  adopt  entirely  different  methods 
if  he  hoped  to  succeed  in  his  mission.  Mr.  Butt, 
however,  was  a  man  of  amiability  that  reached  to 
weakness.  He  knew  that  a  policy  of  this  kind 
could  not  be  carried  out  without  coming  into 
fierce  collision  with  the  House  of  Commons,  even 
without  evoking  a  storm  of  interruption  and  of 
passion  there,  too,  and  an  equally  violent  storm 
of  passion  outside.  Kindly  himself,  he  trusted  to 
conciliation,  and  he  had  not  the  nerve  to  face  the 
frowns  and  the  hootings  of  men  with  whom  he 
was  in  daily  intercourse.  For  a  long  time  Mr. 
Parnell  and  Mr.  Biggar  pressed  their  views  upon 
the  Irish  leader  over  and  over  again,  but  with  no 
satisfactory  result ;  and  they  finally  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  it  was  perfectly  impossible  to  hope 
for  anything  from  Mr.  Butt's  initiative,  and  that 
they  must  take  the  work  in  hand  themselves. 

It  was  acting  upon  these  ideas  that  Mr.  Parnell 
and  Mr.  Biggar  started  the  movement  known  as 
the  "  Policy  of  Obstruction."  They  began  by 
blocking  every  bill  brought  in  by  the  government. 
This    single    step  alone  created  a  revolutionary 


86  GLADSTONE— PARNELL, 

change  in  the  situation.  Up  to  this  time  the  gov- 
ernment had  been  able  to  get  through  some  of 
their  bills  at  whatever  hour  of  the  sitting  they 
came  on — whether  i  or  2  or  3  or  4  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  Now,  however,  their  operations  could 
not  reach  beyond  half-past  12  o'clock.  This  is 
how  the  new  and  the  old  system  worked.  Sup- 
pose half  a  dozen  government  bills  put  down 
on  Monday  or  Thursday  night;  under  the  old 
system  four  or  five  of  these  bills  would  have  a  fair 
chance  of  being-  considered  on  the  same  nio;ht. 
Under  the  new  system  it  rarely  happened  that 
more  than  one  of  the  bills  was  even  discussed. 
Mr.  Parnell  and  Mr.  Biggar  were  there  to  speak 
at  length,  sometimes  for  an  hour,  other  times  for 
two  hours,  and  frequently  talking  even  nonsense. 
The  result  was,  that  a  debate,  which  began  at  5 
o'clock  and  was  expected  to  finish  at  8  o'clock, 
would  be  prolonged  by  these  indefatigable  talkers 
until  II  or  12  o'clock,  and  then  some  one  of  their 
friends  would  start  up  at  midnight,  and,  by 
speaking  till  half-past  1 2  o'clock,  prevent  the  gov- 
ernment from  bringing  on  bill  No.  2. 

In  the  House  of  Commons  talk  begets  talk,  and 
the  speeches  of  the  Irish  members  always  resulted 
in  eliciting  speeches  from  the  English  members. 
Sometimes  the  speeches  of  their  opponents  took 
the  form  of  violent  attack  and  personal  vitupera- 
tion, but  Mr.  Parnell  and  Mr.  Biggar  did  not  care 
a  pin.     In  fact  they  were  only  too  delighted,  for 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  gy 

those  attacks  not  only  wasted  time  in  themselves, 
but  produced  that  feverish  temper  in  the  House 
during  which  abundant  speech  became  infectious. 
Whenever,  too,  there  were  little  interstices  of 
time,  which  in  the  easy-going  good  old  days  the 
government  were  able  to  fill  up  with  little  bills, 
there  was  either  Mr.  Parnell  or  Mr.  Biggar  ready 
to  stand  up  and  fill  in  the  chasm,  and  so  prevent 
the  bills  from  coming  on.  "  Supply  "  was  their 
happy  hunting-ground.  On  every  item  which 
gave  the  least  promise  of  fruitful  discussion  they 
raised  a  debate.  This  was  especially  the  case 
with  Irish  supply.  On  the  votes  for  the  constab- 
ulary, or  for  the  state  prosecutions,  or  for  money 
to  the  Chief  Secretary,  they  initiated  discussions 
that  dragged  into  the  light  every  dark  place  in 
the  English  administration  of  Irish  affairs.  That 
put  the  government  upon  their  defence,  and 
sometimes  kept  the  subject  of  Ireland  before  the 
House  and  the  country  for  weeks  in  succession. 
The  vote  for  the  police  alone  has  been  known  to 
occupy  a  week  in  discussion  ;  and  the  entire  Irish 
votes  have  rarely  taken  less  than  three  or  four 
weeks  in  stormy  times. 

Nothing  will  bring  more  clearly  before  the  mind 
of  the  reader  the  difference  between  the  old  and 
the  new  time  than  a  single  incident  that  occurred 
with  regard  to  these  Irish  estimates.  One  night 
Mr.  Butt  and  his  followers  were  dining  in  the 
House  of  Commons.     They  had  intended  to  raise 


88  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

some  kind  of  a  debate  upon  the  government  of 
Ireland  upon  the  Irish  estimates.  In  the  middle 
of  the  dinner  somebody  came,  breathless  and  dis- 
mayed, to  announce  that  the  Irish  estimates  had 
all  passed  through  in  the  course  of  a  few  minutes 
without  a  word  of  comment  or  a  whisper  of  disap- 
proval. It  was  fortunate  for  Mr.  Parnell  and  Mr. 
Biggar  that  at  this  time  also  the  government, 
which  at  the  moment  belonged  to  the  Conserva- 
tive party,  resolved  to  bring  in  a  series  of  measures 
which  were  of  much  length  and  vast  perplexity. 
Some  of  these  measures,  besides,  raised  questions 
upon  which  Mr.  Parnell  knew  some  feeling  would 
be  raised  in  England.  He  had  known  of  the  ex- 
istence for  a  long  time  of  a  party  violently  opposed 
to  flogging  in  the  army — an  odious  institution, 
which  survived  in  England  alone,  of  all  civilized 
countries  in  the  world.  Mr.  Parnell  readily  con- 
cluded from  this  that  if  he  raised  a  debate  upon 
flogging  in  the  army  he  would  be  followed  by  a 
certain  number  of  Englishmen  ;  that  they  would 
talk  and  divide  along  with  him,  and  that  in  this 
way  the  progress  of  any  bill  in  which  flogging  in 
the  army  was  mentioned  might  be  indefinitely 
delayed. 

Another  subject  on  which  he  knew  there  was  a 
great  deal  of  feeling  was  the  treatment  of  pris- 
oners. English  feeling  generally  was  confined 
to  dissatisfaction  at  the  manner  in  which  untried 
prisoners  were  treated   under  the   prison  rules ; 


THE   GREAT   IRISH  STRUGGLE.  gg 

but  the  Irish  Nationalists  had  a  further  and  even 
more  serious  grievance :  that  was,  the  treatment 
of  political  prisoners.  Almost  alone  among  the 
civilized  nations  of  the  earth  England  had  up  to 
this  time  confounded  the  political  and  the  ordinary 
prisoners.  Men  of  high  character,  whose  only 
offence  was  to  feel  for  the  deep  distress  and  the 
wrongs  and  miseries  of  their  country  and  too 
eagerly  desire  to  redress  them — men  of  educa- 
tion, good  social  position,  and  refined  minds- 
were  compelled  by  the  British  government  to 
herd  with  the  murderer  and  the  burglar  and  the 
lowest  and  vilest  scum  of  English  society.  Ac- 
cordingly Mr.  Parnell  was  able  to  organize  con- 
siderable support  both  amongst  the  English  and 
Irish  members  in  favor  of  attacks  upon  the  prison 
discipline  of  the  country.  Finally  during  the 
Conservative  regime  the  annexation  of  the  Trans- 
vaal was  accomplished.  It  Is  needless  now  to 
argue  the  right  or  the  wrong  of  that  act.  The 
Iron  hand  of  time  has  crushed  its  advocates. 
But  when  the  annexation  first  took  place  public 
opinion  In  England  was  not  ripe,  and  Information 
did  not  exist.  The  only  persons  who  were  pre- 
pared to  give  the  annexation  any  effective  oppo- 
sition were  a  small  group  of  Radicals,  chief 
among  whom  was  Mr.  Leonard  Courtney,  now 
Deputy  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
The  forcible  conquest  of  any  people  against  their 
will  was  naturally  repugnant  to  Irish  National- 


90  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

ists,  and  thus  they  were  drawn  to  the  side  of  the 
Boers  from  the  very  first.  A  junction  of  their 
forces  with  their  English  Radical  allies  made  it 
possible  to  embitter  and  prolong  the  fight. 

These  preliminary  observations  will  enable  the 
reader  to  understand  the  line  of  tactics  now 
adopted  by  the  Irish  obstructives.  Every  year 
the  House  of  Commons  has  to  pass  what  is 
called  the  **  Mutiny  Act."  This  act  establishes 
the  discipline  of  the  British  army ;  and  under  the 
British  Constitution  the  army  cannot  exist  with- 
out the  annual  passage  of  this  act.  The  act  was 
originally  passed  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining 
the  control  of  Parliament  over  the  standing  army. 
If  this  act  should  cease  to  exist  the  soldier  would 
again  become  a  private  citizen,  subject  only  to  the 
common  law,  and  could  no  longer  be  punished 
for  disobeying  his  officers  or  even  quitting  the 
colors.  The  Mutiny  Act  in  the  present  form  con- 
sists of  about  193  clauses,  and  in  its  old  shape  it 
was  about  the  same  length.  But  up  to  the  advent 
of  Mr.  Parnell  and  Mr.  Biggar  it  was  regarded 
as  simply  a  piece  of  formality  that  was  hurried 
through  in  inaudible  whispers  from  the  Speaker 
and  imaginary  ayes  and  noes  of  the  members  of 
the  House.  In  fact,  it  probably  never  at  any 
period  occupied  more  than  ten  minutes  of  the 
many  months  during  which  Parliament  sits.  But 
Mr.  Parnell,  casting  his  eyes  through  its  innumer- 
able clauses,  discovered  the  section  maintaining 


THE   GREAT  IRISH  STRUGGLE.  21 

flogging  in  the  army.  He  at  once  saw  the  im- 
portance of  the  point ;  raised  the  question  again 
and  again  ;  was  attacked  furiously  by  the  Conser- 
vative Ministers,  and  for  a  long  time  was  left  alone 
by  the  members  of  the  English  parties,  and  even 
by  the  members  of  the  Irish  party  too.  The 
Minister  for  War  at  this  period  was  a  man  now 
known  as  Lord  Cranbrook,  but  then  Mr.  Gathorne 
Hardy.  Lord  Cranbrook  is  a  man  of  vacuous 
mind  and  boisterous  temper.  To  watch  him  well 
there  night  after  night — compelled  to  argue  and 
reargue  with  tortured  reiteration  in  reply  to  Mr. 
Parnell  and  Mr.  Biggar — was,  to  use  a  colloquial 
expression,  like  the  sight  of  a  hen  on  a  hot  grid- 
iron. He  would  try  ^/iis  form,  then  ^/^a^  form  in 
treating  this  obstinate  and  terrible  Irish  group. 
He  was  civil,  and  they  replied  with  equal  civility, 
but  at  the  same  time  with  equally  lengthy  speeches. 
He  sulked  in  silence,  and  then  they  moved  mo- 
tions for  adjournment  of  the  debate  or  of  the 
House  that  compelled  him  to  answer.  He  was 
violendy  angry,  and  then  he  exposed  himself  to 
merciless  torture.  Night  after  night,  week  after 
week,  month  after  month,  the  Mutiny  Bill  dragged 
its  slow  length  along,  not  passing  itself  and  not 
permitting  any  other  measure  to  pass. 

The  same  thing  took'  place  with  regard  to  other 
measures.  The  introduction  of  a  Prison's  Bill 
removing  the  control  of  prisoners  from  local 
authority  to  the  Home  Office,  or,  as  it  would  be 


92  GLADSTONE— PARNELT.. 

called  in  America,  to  the  Department  of  the  In- 
terior, afforded  an  opportunity  for  raising  the 
question  of  prison  discipline.  Again  night  after 
night,  week  after  week,  and  month  after  month 
passed,  and  still  the  Prisons  Bill  had  not  got 
through  its  innumerable  clauses.  And,  finally, 
there  was  the  Transvaal  Bill,  with  its  multi- 
farious clauses  also ;  and  in  its  case  likewise  night 
after  night,  week  after  week,  and  month  after 
month  almost  passed,  and  still  the  bill  had  not 
become  a  law. 

It  was  the  policy  of  himself  and  Mr.  Biggar 
(as  he  told  one  of  the  writers  of  this  work  when 
they  were  travelling  over  to  Ireland  together  to 
organize  the  great  election  campaign  of  1885) 
always  to  avoid  stand-up  fights  with  the  Govern- 
ment. The  work  of  delaying  legislation  and 
wasting  time  was  done  more  effectively  in  quiet- 
ness and  without  any  of  these  great  struggles. 
This  remark  of  Mr.  Parnell's  is  quite  characteris- 
tic of  the  man's  whole  nature  and  policy.  The 
showy  fights  were  not  to  his  taste  half  as  much 
as  the  quiet  and  unseen  work  ;  for  the  quiet  and 
unseen  work  produced  practical  results,  whereas 
the  showy  fights  sometimes  were  not  so  effective. 
In  one  respect  this  criticism  upon  his  own  policy 
was  not  altogether  correct.  These  showy  fights 
had  the  effect  of  drawing  the  attention  of  all  man- 
kind to  the  Irish  question,  and  had  a  second,  and 
even  equally  important  effect — they  "  enthused  " 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  93 

the  Irish  race  at  home  and  abroad.  When 
Mr.  Parnell  came  to  America  in  1880,  Wendell 
Phillips  best  pithily  described  the  effect  of  Mr. 
Parnell's  action,  when  he  said  he  had  come  to  see 
the  man  who  had  made  John  Bull  listen.  And 
the  second  effect  is  best  shown  by  the  extraordi- 
nary union  of  the  Irish  nation  now  in  his  support. 
In  the  midst  of  the  struggle  between  the  active 
section,  as  the  Obstructives  were  called,  of  the 
Irish  party,  and  the  loggards,  or  trimmers,  or 
traitors,  who  formed  the  bulk  of  that  party,  Mr. 
Butt  died.  Mr.  Parnell  was  still  at  this  time  a 
young  man  and  had  only  made  a  short  record. 
The  country  was  not  yet  quite  certain  of  his 
power  to  take  the  position  of  leader.  In  addition 
to  all  this  the  then  Home  Rule  Party  consisted 
mostly  of  men  who  disliked  him  personally  and 
loathed  his  policy.  Under  these  circumstances  it 
was  vain  to  think  of  his  being  appointed  the 
leader ;  and  Mr.  William  Shaw  was  elected  as  a 
stop-gap  leader.  The  reasons  for  this  election 
were,  that  Mr.  Shaw  was  a  Protestant,  supposed 
to  be  very  rich,  and  that  he  had  a  moderate  mind 
and  an  easy  and  genial  temperament.  Under  the 
rules  of  the  Irish  party  the  leader  is  elected  for 
only  one  year,  and  the  time  was  bound  soon  to 
come  when  Mr.  Shaw  would  have  once  more  to 
submit  his  claims  for  the  position  of  chief  The 
selection  was  perhaps  the  best  that  could  have 
been  made  at  the  time.     Mr.  Shaw  was  not  with- 

6 


9-^  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

out  many  admirable  qualities.  He,  however,  was 
too  cautious  and  timid,  and  had  not  imagination 
or  mind  large  enough  for  the  sublime  and  gigantic 
evils  that  had  now  to  be  grappled  with  once  and 
for  all.  The  year  1879  marked  a  crisis  in  the 
history  of  Ireland. 

Owing  to  circumstances  which  will  be  presently 
detailed  the  potato  crop  has  occupied  in  Irish  life 
a  position  of  extraordinary  importance.  With- 
out any  exaggeration  the  potato  crop  may  be 
described  as  the  thin  partition  which  used  to  di- 
vide large  masses  of  the  Irish  people  from  whole- 
sale starvation.  The  years  iSyy-'/S  had  both 
been  years  in  which  the  crops  had  largely  failed 
to  come  up  to  the  expectations  of  the  people. 
The  following  table  will  prove  this  fact  conclu- 
sively ; 

Value  of  Potato  Crop. 

1876 $60,321,910 

1877 26,355,110 

1878 35.897,560 

It  will  therefore  be  seen  that  by  1879  there 
had  been  two  bad  seasons;  and  three  bad  seasons 
in  Ireland  as  it  then  was  were  sufficient  to  make 
all  the  difference  between  the  chance  of  weather- 
ing the  storm  and  going  down  in  awful  ship- 
wreck. But  the  year  1879  disappointed  all  the 
expectations  that  had  been  formed  of  it.  The 
potato  crop,  instead  of  rising,  went  down  to  a 
lower  point  than  it  had  reached  even  in  the  dis- 
astrous year  of  1877.     The  figures  are ; 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  95 

Value  of  Potato  Crop. 
1879 $  1 5 .705 .440 

In  Other  words  two-thirds  of  the  potato  crop 
had  not  come  to  maturity,  and  in  some  parts  of 
the  country  it  had  entirely  disappeared.  Thus 
Ireland  stood  face  to  face  with  famine.  The  time 
had  come  now  for  making  a  choice  between 
either  of  two  courses,  each  of  which  presented 
enormous  difficulties  and  terrible  dangers. 
Either  the  country  had  to  remain  quiet  and  sub- 
missive to  the  decree  of  British  law  and  of  Irish 
landlords,  when  the  result  would  probably  be  a 
considerable  amount  of  starvation,  an  enormous 
number  of  evictions,  and  an  immense  amount  of 
emigration,  as  well  as  the  break-down  of  all 
spirits  and  of  all  hopes  in  the  people.  The  other 
course  was  that  of  passive  resistance  to  the  law 
of  eviction,  and  of  strong  agitation  which  would 
make  the  landlords  pause  in  their  tyranny,  and 
compel  the  British  Parliament  to  bestow  reform. 
The  latter  course  could  not  be  entered  upon 
without  the  risk  of  violent  collision  with  the  law 
and  the  chances  of  penal  servitude  and  perhaps 
death  on  the  gallows ;  and  above  all,  without  the 
sickening  dread  when  the  hour  of  trial  came  that 
the  people  might  prove  unequal  to  the  opportun- 
ity, and  allow  themselves  to  be  again  driven  back 
by  the  dark  night  of  hunger  and  of  despair.  If 
Mr.  Butt  had  remained  at  the  head  of  affairs  it 
»s  more  than  probable  that  the  first  of  these  two 


96  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

courses  would  have  been  adopted.  It  was  the 
only  course  that  recommended  itself  to  timid  and 
constitutional  lawyers  like  him,  and  to  all  the 
other  large  sections  of  society  in  Ireland,  that 
always  wish  to  avoid  open  collision  with  the 
great  powers  of  the  British  government.  But 
Mr.  Parnell  is  a  very  different  type  of  man  to 
Mr.  Butt.  His  Iron  nerve  and  his  darine  mind 
induced  him  to  believe  that  the  bold  course  was 
the  true  course,  that  eviction  should  be  grappled 
with,  that  the  landlords  and  the  law  should  be 
encountered,  and  that  in  this  way  the  threatened 
famine  of  1879,  in  place  of  being  a  night  of 
darkness  and  despair,  might  make  a  morning  of 
hope  and  resurrection  to  the  Irish  people. 

His  choice  of  weapons  was  largely  influenced 
by  a  very  remarkable  man  who  at  about  this  time 
began  to  have  considerable  influence  over  the 
course  of  Irish  affairs.  This  was  Michael  Davitt. 
The  life  of  Michael  Davitt  is  in  many  respects  like 
that  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Irishmen.  Evic- 
tion, Exile,  Poverty — these  are  its  main  features. 

Michael  Davitt  was  born  at  Straid,  in  the 
County  Mayo,  in  the  year  1846.  That  year,  as 
will  be  seen  afterwards,  was  one  of  Ireland's 
darkest  hours.  Famine  was  in  the  country; 
thousands  were  dying  in  every  hospital,  work- 
house, and  jail,  and  the  roads  were  literally  thick 
with  the  corpses  of  the  unburied.  The  landlords 
were  aggravating  this  terrible  state  of  things  by 


MICHAEL  D  4VITT. 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  99 

their  merciless  eviction  of  all  their  helpless  ten- 
antry whose  means  of  living  and  power  of  paying 
their  rent  had  been  entirely  destroyed  by  this 
economic  cyclone.  The  father  of  Davitt  was  one 
of  these  victims.  Davitt's  earliest  recollection  is 
of  an  eviction  under  circumstances  of  cruelty  and 
heartlessness.  He  was  but  four  years  of  age 
when  his  father  was  turned  out  of  his  house  and 
farm.  It  was  the  curious  irony  of  fate  that  he 
afterwards  held  a  Land  League  meeting  at  Straide, 
and  that  the  platform  from  which  he  spoke  stood 
on  the  very  spot  where  he  had  first  seen  light. 
His  family  emigrated  to  Lancashire,  where  to-day 
there  are  thousands  of  other  Irish  families  who 
sought  refuofe  in  English  homes  from  their  own 
country.  The  fate  of  the  Irish  in  England  has 
been  one  of  the  many  tragedies  in  the  sorrowful 
history  of  the  Irish  race.  Coming  mostly  from 
the  country  and  from  rural  pursuits,  the  Irish 
exiles  were  thrown  into  the  midst  of  large  manu- 
facturinof  industries.  For  such  industries  of  course 
they  had  had  no  training  whatever.  The  result 
was  that  the  only  work  they  could  obtain  was  the 
work  which  was  hardest  and  worst  paid.  To- 
day, if  you  pass  through  a  Lancashire,  Northum- 
brian, or  Scotch  district  you  will  find  that  the 
stokers  in  the  gas-works,  the  laborers  in  the  blast 
furnace  and  chemical  works  are  nearly  all  men  of 
Irish  birth  and  descent — people  or  the  sons  of 
people  who  were  driven  from  Ireland  by  hungei" 


flOO  GLADSTONE— PARNEDL. 

and  iby  eviction.  In  his  early  years  Davitt  led 
the  same  life  as  that  of  the  other  Irishmen  around 
him.  As  soon  as  he  was  able  to  work  he  had  to 
be  sent  to  the  mill  in  order  to  eke  out  the  scanty 
subsistence  of  his  family.  While  employed  in 
the  mill  his  arm  was  caught  in  the  machinery  and 
wrenched  off.  This  misfortune,  terrible  as  It  was, 
perhaps  influenced  his  life  for  the  future.  He 
was  taken  away  from  the  mill,  and  was  able  in 
this  way  to  devote  time  to  the  improvement  of 
his  mind.  He  was  living  at  this  time  at  Has- 
lingden,  a  town  in  the  Lancashire  constituency, 
which  is  represented  at  present  by  the  Marquis 
of  Hartington.  -He  was  employed  there  for  some 
years  in  a  stationer's  shop  and  afterwards  as  a 
letter-carrier.  In  Haslingden  there  is  a  large 
Irish  population,  and  the  young  Irish  boy  grew  up 
amid  Irish  surroundings  and  Irish  influences. 
However,  it  was  not  until  one  night  he  attended 
a  meeting  addressed  by  an  Irish  orator  that  he 
really  began  to  have  strong  political  opinions. 
This  orator  told  him  the  history  of  his  country, 
of  her  wrongs,  of  her  plans,  of  her  hopes.  The 
whole  soul  of  the  young  man  was  fired;  his  im- 
pressions were  crystallized  into  convictions,  and 
from  that  time  forward  he  was  an  ardent  Irish 
Nationalist.  It  is  a  singular  circumstance  that 
the  man  who  gave  to  Davitt  this  new  birth 
of  conviction  afterwards  proved  recreant  to  the 
cause;    for   the   orator  who    first    made    Davitt 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  JQI 

an    Irish    Nationalist   was    Mr.  John  O'Connor 
Power. 

In  those  days  there  was  no  place  in  politics 
for  an  honest  Irish  Nationalist  save  in  the  ranks 
of  the  revolutionary  party.  That  party  found 
some  of  its  bravest  and  fiercest  recruits  among 
the  Irish  in  England,  and  Davitt  was  one  of  them. 
The  English  Branch  of  the  Fenian  oro^anization 
contemplated  some  of  the  most  desperate  enter- 
prises of  the  movement.  Among  many  other 
plots  they  resolved  to  make  an  attack  on  Chester 
Castle,  where  there  used  to  be  a  large  supply  of 
arms.  Davitt,  although  very  young  at  the  time, 
was  one  of  those  who  were  present  at  the  tryst- 
ing-place.  He  escaped  arrest  at  this  time,  and 
then  he  became  prominent  by  his  energy  and 
talents,  and  after  a  while  was  one  of  the  foremost 
organizers  of  the  movement.  He  was  mainly 
concerned  in  the  purchase  of  arms  and  their 
transportation  to  Ireland  to  prepare  men  for  the 
fight,  which  was  then  supposed  to  be  ripening 
fast.  One  eveninor  he  was  arrested  at  a  London 
railway  station  and  was  brought  before  the  courts 
on  the  charge  of  levying  war  against  the  Queen. 
The  main  evidence  against  him  was  that  of 
Corydon,  an  infamous  ruffian,  who  first  joined  and 
then  sold  the  organization.  From  the  onset 
Davitt  knew  there  was  no  escape.  In  his  "Leaves 
of  a  Prison  Diary,"  which  contains  an  account  of 
his  life,  he  describes  his  feelings  at  this  terrible 
hour ; 


102  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

"  I  recollect,"  he  writes,  "  having  occupied  the 
half-hour  during  which  the  jury  was  considering 
whether  to  believe  the  evidence  of  respectable 
witnesses  or  accept  that  of  a  creature  who  can  be 
truly  designated  a  salaried  perjurer  in  my  case, 
in  reading  the  inscriptions  which  covered  the 
walls  of  the  cell — the  waiting-room  of  fate — in 
Newgate  prison,  to  which  I  was  conducted  while 
my  future  was  being  decided  in  the  jury-room 
overhead.  Every  available  inch  of  the  blackened 
mortar  contained,  in  few  words,  the  name  of  the 
writer,  where  he  belonged  to,  the  crime  with 
which  he  was  charged,  the  dread  certainty  of 
conviction,  the  palpitating  hopes  of  acquittal,  or 
the  language  of  indifference  or  despair.  What 
thoughts  must  have  swept  through  the  minds  of 
the  thousands  who  have  passed  through  that  cell 
during  the  necessarily  brief  stay  within  its  walls! 
Loss  of  home,  friends,  reputation,  honor,  name — 
to  those  who  had  such  to  lose ;  and  the  impend- 
ing sentence  of  banishment  from  the  world  of 
pleasure  or  business  for  years — perhaps  forever 
—with  the  doom  of  penal  degradation,  toil,  and 
suffering  in  addition ! 

"Yet,  despite  all  these  feelings  that  crowd 
upon  the  soul  in  these  short,  fleeting,  terrible 
moments  of  criminal  life,  the  vanity — or  what 
shall  I  term  it? — of  the  individual  prompts  him 
to  occupy  most  of  them  in  giving  a  short  record 
of  himself,  his  crime  or  imputed  offence,  scratched 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  103 

upon  these  blackened  walls,  for  other  succeeding 
unfortunates  to  read! 

"  Most  of  these  inscriptions  were  in  slang, 
showing  that  the  majority  of  those  who  had  writ- 
ten them  were  of  the  criminal  order,  and  guilty 
of  some,  if  not  of  the  particular,  offence  for  which 
they  were  doomed  to  await  the  announcement 
of  their  punishment  within  that  chamber  of  dread 
expectancy.  Not  a  few,  however,  consisted  of 
declarations  of  innocence,  invocations  of  Divine 
interposition,  appeals  to  justice,  and  confidence 
in  the  '  laws  of  my  country ; '  while  others  denoted 
the  absence  of  all  thoughts  except  those  of  wife, 
children,  or  sweetheart.  Some  who  were  await- 
ing that  most  terrible  of  all  sentences — death — 
could  yet  think  of  tracing  the  outlines  of  a  scaffold 
amidst  the  mass  of  surrounding  inscriptions,  with 
a  '  Farewell  to  Life '  scrawled  underneath.  Giv- 
ing way  to  the  seeming  inspiration  of  the  place, 
and  picturing  jurors'  faces  round  that  dismal  den 
— dark  and  frowning,  into  which  the  sun's  rays 
never  entered,  lit  only  by  a  noisy  jet  of  gas  which 
seemed  to  sing  the  death-song  of  the  liberty  of 
all  who  entered  the  walls  which  it  had  blackened 
—I  stood  upon  the  form  which  extended  round 
the  place  and  wrote  upon  a  yet  uncovered  por- 
tion of  the  low  sloping  roof:  *M.  D.  expects  ten 
years  for  the  crime  of  being  an  Irish  Nationalist 
and  the  victim  of  an  informer's  perjury. — July, 
1870.'     From  the  ghasdy  look  of  the  place,  the 


104  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

penalty  I  was  about  to  undergo,  and  my  own 
thoughts  at  the  moment,  I  might  have  most  ap- 
propriately added  the  well-known  lines  from  the 
'Inferno,'  which  invite  those  who  enter  its  portals 
of  despair  to  abandon  hope." 

The  anticipations  in  this  heart's  cry  proved  cor- 
rect. Davitt  was  found  guilty  and  was  sentenced 
to  fifteen  years*  penal  servitude.  Replying  in  the 
month  of  May  last  (1886)  to  Lord  Randolph 
Churchill's  incitements  to  civil  war,  Mr.  Davitt 
gave  a  scathing  reply,  and  at  the  same  time  a 
neat  summary  of  his  miseries  in  penal  servitude. 

"  The  treason  for  which  I  was  tried  and  con- 
victed in  1870  was  more  justifiable  in  reason  and 
less  culpable  to  law  than  the  treason  which  this 
ex-cabinet  minister  commits  in  telling  the  people 
of  Ulster  that  they  will  be  entitled  to  appeal  to 
the  arbitrament  of  force  if  the  imperial  Parliament 
passes  a  certain  law.  In  1870,  when  I  was  tried 
in  London,  the  Casde  system  of  government  still 
obtained  in  Ireland — a  system  of  rule  which,  by 
the  measure  which  the  Prime  Minister  of  Eneland 
— (loud  cheers) — has  introduced  for  the  better 
government  of  Ireland,  is  now  proved  to  be  un- 
just and  unconstitutional.  Nevertheless,  I  was 
sentenced  to  fifteen  years'  penal  servitude  for 
sendinor  firearms  to  Ireland  to  be  used  asfainst  a 
system  of  government  in  that  country  which  was 
not  objectionable  to  the  minority,  but  which  was 
looked  upon  by  the  mass  of  the  Irish  people  as  a 


F.  B    TRLKHILL,  M  A, 
President  Irish  National  League,  New  South  Wales. 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  107 

tyranny.     (Applause.)     Now,  what  will  be  the 
position  of  this  precious  ex-minister  of  the  Crown 
in  1887  if  he  be  true  to  his  words  in  sending  fire- 
arms   to   the    North   of    Ireland?     (Applause.) 
Lord  Churchill  will  be  in  insurrection  against  his 
Dwn    Queen   and    country.     (Hear,   hear.)     He 
"vill  not  be  In  revolt  against  a  despotic  Castle 
system,  but  against  the  legally-constituted  Irish 
Parliament,  and,  therefore,  this  treason  which  he 
commits   by   anticipation   will    have   no   earthly 
justification  or  extenuation.     (Cheers.)     Well,  I 
will  give  the  noble  lord  some  friendly  advice  to- 
night— (laughter) — based  upon  a  good  deal  of 
prison  experience.     (Renewed  laughter.)     I  will 
assume  that  in   1S87,  when   Paddington's  lordly 
representative  will  become  a  rebel  against  impe- 
rial authority,  Mr.  Gladstone  will  be  Prime  Minis- 
ter of  England.     (Cheers.)     He  was  England's 
Prime    Minister   in    1870,  when    I   left   the    Old 
Bailey   to    undergo    penal    servitude.     If    Lord 
Randolph   Churchill   receive  the  same  sentence 
for  a  similar  offence  without  any  justification  for 
committing  it,  I  will  tell  him  what  he  will  have  to 
undergo.     (Hear,    hear.)     If    he    is    treated    in 
prison  as  I  was  under  Mr.  Gladstone's  adminis- 
tration, he  will  be  chained  to  a  cart  with  murder- 
ers and  pick-pockets  for  the  first  four  years  of 
imprisonment,  and  if  he  goes  through  that  ordeal 
without  quarrelling  with  his  new  chums — (laughter 
and  loud  applause) — it  may  be  his  good  fortune, 


108  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

as  It  was  mine,  to  be  in  six  years'  time  piomoted 
to  the  position  of  turning  a  wringing  machine  in 
the  Dartmoor  convict  laundry.  (Loud  laughter 
and  applause.)  Well,  after  seven  years  and  eight 
months'  Imprisonment,  I  hope  he  will  be  released 
on  ticket-of-leave,  as  I  was,  and  then,  perhaps,  it 
may  be  my  duty,  rising  from  the  opposite  benches 
of  the  Irish  Parliament — (cheers) — to  do  for  him 
what  he  did  for  me  in  1881,  when  he  called  upon 
the  then  Chief  Secretary  of  Ireland  to  send  me 
back  to  penal  servitude  to  undergo  fifteen  months' 
additional  imprisonment."     (Cheers.) 

Several  attempts  were  made  to  procure  Davitt's 
release  from   prison,   which   attempts    failed   for 
years ;  but  at  last,  on  the  morning  of  December 
19,  1877,  the  governor  of  Dartmoor  jail  brought 
Davitt  the  information  that  he  was  a  free  man. 
The  release,  however,  was  not  unconditional.    He 
was    let  out  on   a  ticket-of-leave.     This  at   the 
time  might  well  have  appeared  nothing  more  than 
a  hollow  formality.     But  it  afterwards  proved  to 
be  a  grim  safeguard  for  Davitt's  political  orthodoxy 
in  the  future.     After  his  release  he  took  to  lectur- 
ing.    In  the  course  of  time  his  family  had  been 
further  scattered,  and  having  first  left  Ireland  for 
England  they  had  subsequently  quitted  England 
for  America.     They  were  settled  in  Manayunk, 
Pennsylvania.     Davitt  went  over  to  America  to 
see  his  mother  and  sister,  and  also  probably  with 
the  view  to  his  career  thereafter.     When  he  ar- 


THE   GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  109 

rived  In  America  he  had  not  more  than  a  few 
acquaintances  in  the  country.  The  chief  of  thes^ 
was  Mr,  James  O'Kelly,  then  connected  with  the 
New  York  press,  now  a  member  of  the  British 
House  of  Commons. 

At  this  time  there  had  come  an  important  crisis 
in  the  history  of  Irish-American  organizations. 
A  large  number  of  the  men  who  had  been  en- 
gaged in  revolutionary  effort  had  made  up  their 
mind  that  the  Hberation  of  Ireland  could  not  for 
the  moment  be  advanced  by  Immediate  resort  to 
physical  force.  Several  of  the  men  of  the 
keenest  intelliofence  and  of  thoughtful  and  states- 
manlike  minds  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
other  devices  should  be  employed.  Of  these  men 
perhaps  the  most  noteworthy  was  Mr.  John 
Devoy.  It  required  some  courage  to  preach  to 
men  of  the  revolutionary  party  any  doctrine  save 
the  attempt  to  liberate  Ireland  by  force  of  arms. 
Constitutional  agitators  had  been  proved  in  so 
iTjany  cases  liars  and  traitors  that  constitutional  agi- 
tation was  regarded  by  vast  numbers  as  a  delusion 
and  a  snare  ;  and  any  plan  that  had  even  the  least 
approach  to  constitutional  agitation  in  its  character 
Vv^as  condemned  beforehand.  But  some  of  the 
leading  spirits  of  the  revolutionary  party  were 
men  above  the  cant  of  faction  or  the  emptiness  of 
phrases.  They  saw  that  the  Land  question  was, 
after  all,  the  fundamental  question  with  the  vast 
mass  of  the  Irish  people ;  that  that  was  the  ques- 


110  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

tion  which  touched  their  hearts,  their  homes,  and 
tjieir  daily  lives,  and  that  accordingly,  if  some 
movement  were  started  in  which  the  land  would 
play  a  prominent  part,  the  adhesion  of  the  farmers 
to  the  National  movement  would  be  easily  ob- 
tained. Revolutionists  were  accordingly  advised 
to  take  up  the  .igitation  of  the  Land  question  as 
the  best  means  by  which  they  could  reach  the 
goal  of  National  revival.  This  was  known  at  one 
time  as  "  the  new  departure." 

Mr.  Davitt  was  brouorht  into  contact  with  the 
men  of  this  new  school ;  his  mind  was  captured 
by  the  idea ;  and  when  he  returned  to  Ireland  it  was 
with  a  determination  to  put  this  new  plan  of  action 
into  operation.  For  a  year  he  met  with  but  little 
success  ;  the  revolutionaries  would  not  accept  his 
plan  because  it  was  too  constitutional.  The  con- 
stitutionalists rejected  it  as  too  revolutionary. 

The  period  of  Davitt's  arrival  in  Ireland  was 
the  period  of  dark  distress  from  the  failure  of  the 
crop  which  has  been  already  described.  Another 
event  which  lent  force  to  Davitt's  ideas  was  the 
action  of  the  land-owners.  They  proceeded  to 
deal  with  their  tenantry  in  exactly  the  same  way 
as  they  had  done  at  all  previous  periods  of  dis- 
tress. That  is  to  say,  they  took  advantage  of 
their  tenants'  distress  to  drive  them  out  of  their 
holdings.  This  will  be  seen  more  plainly  by  put- 
ting side  by  side  the  increase  of  the  distress  and 
the  number  of  evictions : 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE  II3 

No.  of  Evictions 
Year.  Value  of  Potato  Crop.  by  Families. 

1876 160,321,910 1,269 

1877 26,355,110 1,323 

1878 35.897,560 1,749 

1879 15,705,440 2,667 

From  this  short  table  it  may  be  gathered  that 
the  number  of  evictions  increased  in  exact  pro- 
portions to  the  deepening  of  the  distress.  Davitt 
saw  how  this  state  of  things  could  be  used  for 
the  purpose  of  advancing  his  ideas.  He  after- 
wards thus  describes  his  mode  of  acfion : 

"  I  saw  the  priests,  the  farmers,  and  the  local 
leaders  of  the  Nationalists.     I  inquired  and  found 
that  the  seasons  of  1877  and  1878  had  been  poor, 
and  that  a  famine  was  expected  in  1879.    -^^^  ^^e 
farmers  and  cotters  were  in  debt  to  the  landlords 
and  the  shopkeepers.     One  day  in  Claremorris, 
County  Mayo — it  was  in  March,  1879 — ^  was  in 
company  with  John  W.  Walsh,  of  Balla,  who  was 
a  commercial  traveller.     He  is  now  in  Australia 
in  the  interests  of  the  Land  League.     He  knew 
the  circumstances  of  every  shopkeeper  in  the  west 
of  Ireland — their  poverty  and  debt,  and  the  pov- 
erty of  the  people.     He  gave  me  a  good  deal  of 
valuable  information.     I  met  some  farmers  from 
Irishtown,  a  village  outside  of  Claremorris,  and 
talked   to  them  about   the  crops  and    the    rent. 
Everywhere  I  heard  the  same  story,  and  I  at  last 
made  a  proposition  that  a  meeting  be  called  in 
Irishtown  to  give  expression  to  the  grievances  of 
the  tenant  farmers,  and  to  demand  a  reduction  of 


114  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

the  rent.  We  were  also  to  urge  the  abolition 
of  landlordism.  I  promised  to  have  the  speakers 
there,  and  they  promised  to  get  the  audience.  I 
wrote  to  Thomas  Brennan,  of  Dublin,  John  Fer- 
guson, of  Glasgow,  and  other  Irishmen  known  for 
their  adherence  to  Ireland's  cause,  and  I  drew  up 
the  resolutions.  The  meeting  was  held  and  was 
a  great  success,  there  being  between  ten  thousand 
and  twelve  thousand  men  present.  In  the  pro- 
cession there  were  fifteen  hundred  men  on  horse- 
back, marching  as  a  troop  of  cavalry ;  and  this 
feature,  inaugurated  at  Irishtown,  has  been  con- 
tinued ever  since  at  every  meeting  of  the  Land 
League.  The  meeting  was  not  fully  reported  in 
the  Dublin  papers,  but  was,  as  far  as  the  object 
went,  a  success ;  for  the  landlords  of  the  neigh- 
borhood reduced  the  rents  25  per  cent." 

From  this  meeting  at  Irishtown  grew  the  great 
Land  League  movement.  However,  Davitt  had 
yet  to  gain  the  adhesion  of  the  Parliamentary 
leader.  The  fierce  obstructive  fights  in  the  House 
of  Commons  happened  by  a  fortunate  coincidence 
to  be  going  on  exactly  at  the  same  time  as  the 
threatened  famine  and  the  increasing  evictions 
prepared  the  mind  of  Ireland  for  a  new  land 
movement.  These  strues^les  had  roused  the 
spirit  and  the  hopes  of  the  people,  and  they  were 
above  and  beyond  all  pointing  to  the  possibility 
of  their  finding  a  leader  who  had  the  necessary 
courage,  determination,  and  skill  to  lead  a  new 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  115 

land  movement  to  victory.  Mr.  Davitt  early 
appreciated  the  fact  that  if  he  were  to  make  a 
successful  land  movement  he  should  secure  the 
leadership  of  Mr.  Parnell  for  it,  as  he  alone  among 
the  Parliamentarians  of  that  day  had  the  necessary 
magnetism  and  other  qualities  for  such  an  arduous 
and  perilous  enterprise.  But  he  did  not  find  in 
Mr.  Parnell  immediate  assent  to  his  proposals  ; 
for  Davitt's  schemes,  not  merely  in  their  means 
but  in  their  ends,  went  far  beyond  any  plans  that 
had  yet  been  formulated  by  any  Irish  organization 
or  any  Irish  politician.  The  Land  reformers  in 
Ireland  had  always  demanded  as  the  goal  and 
limit  of  its  efforts  what  came  to  be  known  as  the 
"  Three  F's ;  "  that  is  to  say,  Fixity  of  tenure,  Free 
sale,  and  Fair  rent.  The  demands  for  these  con- 
cessions had  been  urged  for  more  than  forty 
years,  and  had  formed  the  subject  of  innumerable 
bills  in  the  House  of  Commons,  of  countless  mis- 
sions, and  of  many  successive  agitations ;  and  in 
1879,  when  Davitt  was  preparing  the  new  move- 
ment, the  three  "  F's  "  seemed  nevertheless  to  be 
as  far  off  realization  as  ever.  Davitt's  startling 
proposal  was  that  in  place  of  urging  this  moderate 
demand,  which  appeared  unattainable,  they  should 
advance  to  a  far  more  drastic  proposal  for  the 
settlement  of  the  land  question.  This  suggestion, 
curiously  enough,  had  first  been  made  by  English 
statesmen.     John  Stuart  Mill,  the  great  English 

economist,  Mr.  Bright,  the  great  English  tribune, 
7 


116  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

had  both  suggested  that  the  real  and  final  remedy 
for  the  land  struggle  of  Ireland  was  the  establish- 
ment, through  the  state,  of  that  system  of  peasant 
proprietors  which  had  brought  wealth  and  inde- 
pendence out  of  poverty  and  servitude  in  France, 
Germany,  and  Austria.  Davitt  now  proposed 
to  drop  the  proposal  for  the  three  Fs,  and  to  stop 
nothing  short  of  the  declaration  that  the  occupy- 
ing tenantry  of  Ireland  should  be  transformed  into 
proprietors  of  the  soil.  Mr.  Parnell,  although  he 
is  bold  and  audacious  in  enterprise,  is  a  cool  and 
cautious  calculator  of  means  towards  ends.  Up 
to  this©  time  he  had  never  dreamt  of  makinof  a 
step  beyond  the  demand  for  the  three  F's  ;  and 
he  long  hesitated  before  he  could  accept  the  pro- 
posal of  Davitt;  but  at  last  he  embraced  Davitt's 
programme ;  he  went  to  a  meeting  at  Westport, 
and  preached  the  doctrine  of  peasant  proprietor, 
and  so  the  most  popular  figure  of  Ireland  had 
crossed  the  Rubicon  :  the  land  movement  now 
must  go  on  to  great  victory  or  disastrous  shame. 
Thus  it  was  that  the  oreat  Land  League  move- 
ment  took  its  start.  It  was  a  movement  that 
grew  rather  than  was  made.  The  circumstances 
of  the  time  made  it  necessary.  All  that  was 
wanted  was  now  supplied.  There  was  a  leader 
of  the  necessary  boldness  and  adroitness  to  direct 
and  to  guide  it ;  and  soon  from  one  end  of  Ireland 
to  another  there  were  bodies  of  farmers  ready  to 
o;o  in  for  the  struQ-ofle. 


THE   GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  Ij? 

Matthew  Harris  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
and  strikinof  ficrures  of  the  Irish  movements  of  the 
last  thirty  years.  During  all  this  period  he  has 
devoted  himself  with  self-sacrificing  and  unremit- 
ting zeal  to  the  attainment  of  complete  redress 
of  his  country's  grievances.  In  this  respect  poli- 
tics are  with  him  an  absorbing  passion,  almost  a 
religion.  In  the  pursuit  of  this  high  and  noble 
end  he  has  risked  death,  lost  liberty,  ruined  his 
business  prospects.  Eager,  enthusiastic,  vehe- 
ment, he  has  at  the  same  time  that  grim  tenacity 
of  purpose  by  which  forlorn  hopes  are  changed 
into  triumphant  fruitions.  He  has  fought  the 
battle  against  landlordism  in  the  dark  as  well  as 
in  the  brightest  hour  with  unshaken  resolution. 
Reared  in  the  country,  from  an  early  age  he  saw 
landlordism  in  its  worst  shape  and  aspect ;  his 
childish  recollections  are  of  cruel  and  heartless 
evictions.  Thus  it  is  that  In  every  movement  for 
the  liberation  of  the  farmer  or  of  Ireland  during 
the  last  thirty  years  he  has  been  a  conspicuous 
figure,  as  hopeful,  energetic,  laborious  in  the  hour 
of  despair,  apathy,  and  lassitude,  as  in  times  of 
universal  vigor,  exultation,  and  activity. 

Matthew  Harris  made  war  on  landlordism, 
which  in  the  county  of  Gal  way  had  been  particu- 
larly atrocious  for  many  years  before  the  Land 
League  was  thought  of;  and  in  this  way  his  ac- 
tions became  the  orerm  of  a  new  movement. 

o 

And  now  we  have  come  to  a  point  in  our  nar- 


118  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

rative  that  makes  it  necessary  to  give  a  short  his- 
torical retrospect.  How  comes  it  that  the  Land 
question  in  Ireland  has  grown  to  be  a  question 
of  life  and  death  to  the  Irish  people  ?  Is  the  land 
system  in  Ireland  the  same  as  in  America  or  in 
other  countries  ?  And  how  is  it  that  there  has 
grown  up  between  the  landlord  and  the  occupier 
of  the  Irish  soil  a  feud  so  bitter,  a  hatred  so  deadly? 
These  questions  compel  a  short  sketch  of  the  land 
struggle. 

A  short  sketch,  indeed ;  and  yet  any  sketch, 
however  long,  would,  in  point  of  fact,  be  all  too 
brief  to  convey  any  adequate  idea  of  the  wretched 
history  of  Ireland's  wrongs.  For  the  struggle  in 
Ireland,  from  the  very  outset,  has  been  a  land 
struggle.  Every  combination  against  the  Saxon 
invader  has  been  a  land  league ;  almost  every 
new  creation  in  the  Irish  peerage  has  been  simply 
the  transfer  of  some  land  grabber  into  the  galaxy 
of  the  Anglo-Hibernian  aristocracy.  It  is  a  mis- 
erable story,  sickening  in  its  details  ;  but  there  is 
no  alternative.  Any  view  of  the  situation  which 
leaves  out  of  the  account  this  lone  cataloofue  of 
the  crimes  of  the  rich  man  against  the  poor  man 
in  Ireland  must  altogether  fail  of  its  purpose. 

The  sketch  is  brief,  not  for  lack  of  material  to 
make  it  long ;  but  our  purpose  in  this  book  is 
not  to  repeat  in  detail  the  old  story  of  shame  and 
crime  and  misery.  Our  narrative  is  not  designed 
as  a  chronicle  of  Ireland's  wrongs  so  much  as  a 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  119 

new  gospel  of  hope,  and  a  prophecy  of  future 
peace  and  prosperity  for  that  unhappy  country. 
The  situation  at  present  is,  indeed,  full  of  hope 
and  promise ;  but  the  full  end  is  not  yet  attained. 
The  goal  seems  near  at  hand;  but  the  need  for 
united  action,  wise  counsels,  persistence  and  pa- 
tience, was  never  greater  than  now.  England 
has  been  forced  to  hear  Ireland's  complaints  ;  her 
best  statesmen  have  been  found  not  unwilling  to 
concede  the  essential  part  of  what  Ireland  claims ; 
and  even  the  majority  of  those  who  oppose  most 
strongly  the  plans  of  settlement  which  have  been 
offered  profess  to  object  to  the  details  of  those 
plans  rather  than  to  the  essential  principles  in- 
volved. There  is,  then,  every  reason  for  the 
friends  of  Ireland  to  be  of  good  cheer. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    LAND   WAR. 

THE  history  of  Ireland  for  centuries — the  his- 
tory of  Ireland  to-day — Is  largely  the  strug- 
gle for  the  possession  of  the  land.  Behind  the 
Land  question  stands  the  larger  and  higher  ques- 
tion of  National  rights  ;  but  the  land  struggle  has 
always  been  present  to  add  fierceness  to  the  de- 
sire for  National  liberty. 

The  possession  of  the  land  forms  in  most  coun- 
tries the  ground  and  bottom  subject  of  struggle  ; 
but  the  fierceness  of  the  fight  is  naturally  pro- 
portioned to  the  prominence  which  agriculture 
holds  in  the  economy  of  a  state.  In  countries 
with  huge  manufacturing  industries  the  struggle 
for  the  land  has  not  the  same  intensity  as  in  coun- 
tries where  farming  is  the  main  if  not  the  sole  re- 
source of  the  people.  Again,  the  keenness  of 
land  struggles  is  proportionate  to  the  other  dif- 
ferences in  the  combatants  by  which  it  may  be 
accompanied.  There  are  states  where  the  strug- 
gle between  the  owner  and  the  occupier  of  the 
soil  is  a  struggle  between  men  of  the  same  race 
and  the  same  creed ;  and  naturally  struggles  in 
(120) 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  121 

such  countries  have  not  the  terrible  and  passion- 
ate hatred  of  struggles  in  countries  where  the  di- 
vergence of  interest  is  accompanied  by  difference 
of  faith  and  blood.  And  finally,  the  battle  for  the 
land  is  fiercest  of  all  in  a  country  where  the  power 
on  the  side  of 'the  owner  is  that  of  another  and  a 
foreign  nation.  In  Ireland  all  the  conditions  that 
make  the  land-owner  fierce  and  relendess  coexist. 
The  ownership  of  the  soil  was  transferred  from 
the  Catholic  and  the  Celt  to  a  Protestant  and  a 
Saxon  ;  the  occupier  of  the  soil  was  robbed  of  his 
heritage  in  a  land  where  the  cultivation  of  the  soil 
was  the  one  and  only  means  of  making  a  liveli- 
hood, and  all  this  was  done  through  the  agency 
of  England  and  in  the  interests  of  Englishmen 
and  English  policy. 

The  struggle  between  the  native  race  of  Ireland 
and  the  intrusive  English  landlord-class  for  the 
possession  of  the  soil  of  that  oppressed  country 
may  be  said  to  date  from  1 1 69,  when  Richard 
Fitzstephen  landed  near  Wexford  with  the  advance 
party  of  Strongbow's  famous  bands.  The  first 
invaders  were  Norman  and  Welsh  rather  than 
English ;  and  the  first  enemies  they  met  were 
Danes  rather  than  Irish.  Sdll  from  this  time  dates 
the  attempt  (long  continued,  but  for  centuries 
unsuccessful)  to  substitute  feudal  laws  and  the 
feudal  land  tenure  for  the  semi-communal  land 
systen;  which  was  that  of  the  native  Irish  popu- 
ladon.     From  this  seed  sprang  the  baleful  upas- 


122  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

tree  of  English  oppression,  which  was  destined  to 
overshadow  the  whole  country  for  ages.  There 
is  little  doubt  that  the  first  cause  of  the  difficulty 
between  the  English  and  natives  was  largely  a 
misapprehension  The  Anglo-Normans  were 
ignorant  of  the  Irish  land  tenures,  and  of  their 
system  of  septs  and  tribes ;  and  they  seem  never 
to  have  suspected  that  there  was  any  people  in 
the  world  which  did  not  hold  their  land  by  a  tenure 
like  their  own.  Dermod  MacMorrough  is  said 
to  have  given  Strongbow  his  only  child  Eva  in 
marriage,  and  with  her  to  have  granted  certain 
lands  in  perpetuity.  Now  it  is  most  certain,  first, 
that  the  lands  which  Dermod  is  said  to  have 
granted  were  never  his  ;  and  next  that  if  they  had 
been  his,  he  would  have  had  no  right,  by  Irish  law, 
to  convey  them  out  of  his  sept.  The  Norman 
feudal  laws,  however,  would  have  made  Eva  sole 
heiress  of  her  father's  power  (a  thing  unknown  in 
old  Irish  law),  as  well  as  the  inheritress  of  all  the 
lands  in  his  kingdom.  Quite  in  the  same  line 
of  stupidity  and  ignorance  has  been  the  much 
more  recent  experience  of  the  British  in  India, 
where,  for  more  than  a  century,  they  kept  confis- 
cating and  granting  lands  to  which  they  had  no 
right.  Until  very  recent  years  they  seem  to  have 
had  no  conception  or  suspicion  of  the  fact  that 
they  were  violating  all  the  immemorial  land  laws 
and  traditional  riohts  of  an   ancient  and  intelli- 

o 

gent   people,   and  making   deep   wounds  which 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  123 

the  East  Indian  races  will  never  forget  nor  forgive. 
As  early  as  121 7  marks  of  strong  mutual  hatred 
between  the  Irish  and  Anglo-Irish  begin  to  appear. 
All  through  the  later  feudal  reigns  there  were  fre- 
quent deeds  of  blood.  The  English  looked  upon 
the  Irish  as  no  better  than  wild  beasts ;  and  the 
Irish  returned  their  scorn  with  the  bitterest  hatred. 
The  "great  Talbot,"  immortalized  by  Shakes- 
peare, was  in  truth  an  able  soldier,  though  feeble 
in  council;  yet  towards  the  Irish  people  he  acted 
with  extreme  barbarity.  An  old  Irish  chronicle 
says  that  he  was  "  a  son  of  curses  for  his  venom, 
and  a  devil  for  his  evil  deeds  ;  and  the  learned 
say  of  him  that  there  came  not  from  the  time  of 
Herod  [Pilate],  by  whom  Christ  was  crucified,  any 
one  so  wicked  in  evil  deeds." 

It  is  not  necessary  to  go  back  to  the  first  in- 
vasion of  Ireland  by  the  English  or  even  to  some 
centuries  later  in  order  to  find  the  origin  of  the 
present  land  system.  For  several  centuries  after 
the  English  had  invaded  Ireland  the  English 
kings  had  but  a  small  extent  of  territory;  and 
their  authority  was  shadowy  and  shifting.  More- 
over the  English  invaders  in  time  mingled  with 
the  Celtic  inhabitants  ;  adopted  their  customs,  their 
dress,  and  their  sentiments  ;  took  their  wives  from 
among  them ;  and  in  time  were  so  thoroughly 
transformed  that  they  were  described  in  the  well- 
known  phrase,  Hiberniores  Hibernis  ipsis.  But 
the  English  authorities  looked  on  these  proceed- 


124  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Ings  with  evil  eye ;  passed  laws  inflicting  heavy 
fines  upon  the  English  settlers  who  thus  inter- 
mingled with  the  Irish  race.  Indeed  they  went 
even  further;  for  one  of  the  laws  passed  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  VI.  made  it  felony  on  the  part  of 
an  English  merchant  to  sell  his  goods  to  an  Irish- 
man. The  relations  between  the  English  settled 
in  the  counties  around  Dublin — the  region  was 
known  as  The  Pale — and  the  Irish  throughout  the 
rest  of  Ireland,  throughout  all  those  centuries, 
were  those  of  perpetual  and  incessant  war.  The 
Irish  were  regarded  as  enemies  whom  it  was 
lawful  to  rob  and  to  slay  and  desirable  to  exter- 
minate. Then,  as  for  many  centuries  afterwards, 
it  was  the  policy  of  English  statesmen  and  soldiers 
to  exterminate  the  Irish  race  from  the  face  of  Ire- 
land and  substitute  therefor  a  purely  English 
population.  The  Irish  were  foreigners  in  every 
sense  of  the  word.  The  whole  policy  of  this 
period  is  put  with  excellent  terseness  and  lucidity 
by  Sir  John  Davies.  Sir  John  Davies  was  At- 
torney-General of  the  English  authorities  in  the 
reign  of  James  I.,  and  he  has  left  most  interesting 
and  valuable  accounts  of  his  times. 

"  In  all  the  Parliament  Rolls,"  he  writes,  "  which 
are  extant,  from  the  fortieth  year  of  Edward  III., 
when  the  statutes  of  Kilkenny  were  enacted,  till 
the  reign  of  King  Henry  VIII.,  we  find  the  de- 
generate and  disobedient  English  called  rebels ; 
but  the  Irish  which  were  not  in  the  King's  peace 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  125 

are  called  enemies.  Statute  Kilkenny,  c.  i,  lo 
and  II  ;  2  Henry  IV.,  c.  24;  10  Henry  VI.,  c.  i, 
18  ;  18  Henry  VI.,  c.  4,  5  ;  Edward  IV.,  c.  6 ;  10 
Henry  VII.,  c.  17.  All  these  statutes  speak  of 
English  rebels  and  Irish  enemies ;  as  if  the  Irish 
had  never  been  in  the  condition  of  subjects,  but 
always  out  of  the  protection  of  the  law,  and  were 
indeed  in  worse  case  than  aliens  of  any  foreign 
realm  that  was  in  amity  with  the  crown  of  Eng- 
land. For  by  divers  heavy  penal  laws  the  English 
were  forbidden  to  marry,  to  foster,  to  make  gos- 
sips with  the  Irish,  or  to  have  any  trade  or  com- 
merce in  their  markets  or  fairs ;  nay,  there  was  a 
law  made  no  longer  since  than  the  twenty-eighth 
year  of  Henry  VIII.,  that  the  English  should  not 
marry  with  any  person  of  Irish  blood,  though  he 
had  gotten  a  charter  of  denization ;  unless  he 
had  done  both  homage  and  fealty  to  the  King  in 
the  Chancery,  and  were  also  bound  by  recogni- 
zance with  sureties,  to  continue  a  loyal  subject. 
Whereby  it  is  manifest,  that  such  as  had  the  gov- 
ernment of  Ireland  under  the  crown  of  England 
did  intend  to  make  a  perpetual  separation  and 
enmity  between  the  English  and  the  Irish,  pre- 
tending, no  doubt,  that  the  English  should  in  the 
end  root  out  the  Irish  ;  which  the  English  not  be- 
ing able  to  do,  caused  a  perpetual  war  between  the 
nations,  which  continued  for  four  hundred  and 
odd  years,  and  would  have  lasted  to  the  world's 
end,  if  in  the  end  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign  the 


126  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Irish  had  not  been  broken  and  conquered  by  the 
sword,  and  since  the  beginning  of  his  majesty's 
reign  been  protected  and  governed  by  the 
law." 

It  will  be  remarked  that  in  the  extract  just  given 
Sir  John  Davies  illustrates  his  statements  with 
true  lawyer-like  accuracy  by  references  to  the 
leading  cases  which  corroborate  them.  In  the 
same  series  of  historical  tracts — as  they  are  called 
— in  which  he  lays  the  foregoing  propositions 
down,  he  illustrates  the  ideas  of  the  times  still 
more  clearly  by  quoting  some  well-known  trials 
in  which  there  was  an  Englishman  of  The  Pale 
on  one  side  and  an  Irishman  on  the  other.  In  the 
one  case  the  Irishman  sues  the  Englishman  for 
trespass ;  and  the  plea  of  the  Englishman  is  not 
a  denial  of  the  offence  but  that  the  Irishman  is  not 
an  Englishman  nor  a  member  of  five  families 
whom  the  English  King  Henry  II.  exempted  from 
the  laws  against  the  Irish ;  and  the  plea  being  es- 
tablished the  Irishman  is  non-suited.  In  the  sec- 
ond case  an  Englishman  is  charged  with  the  mur- 
der of  an  Irishman  ;  and  his  plea  is  a  confession 
of  guilt  as  to  the  murder  accompanied  by  the  de- 
mand that,  as  the  murdered  man  was  an  Irishman, 
the  punishment  should  not  be  death  but  the  pay- 
ment of  a  fine.  On  the  other  hand  the  Irishman 
that  killed  an  Englishman  was  always  hanged. 
Indeed  there  are  several  statutes  that  openly 
preached    the   assassination    of    Irishmen    found 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  127 

within  English  territory  as  a  duty  and  a  service  to 
the  state. 

Thus  in  the  reien  of  Edward  IV.  a  statute  was 
passed,  intituled — "  An  Act  that  it  shall  be  law- 
full  to  kill  any  that  is  found  robbing  by  day  or 
night,  or  going  or  coming  to  rob  or  steal,  having 
no  faithfull  man  of  good  name  or  fame  in  their 
company  in  English  apparrel :  "  Whereby  it  was 
enacted — "  That  it  shall  be  lawfull  to  all  manner 
of  men  that  find  any  theeves  robbing  by  day  or 
by  night,  or  going  or  coming  to  rob  or  steal,  in  or 
out,  going,  or  coming,  having  no  faithfull  man  of 
good  name  in  their  company  in  English  apparrel 
upon  any  of  the  liege  people  of  the  King,  that  it 
shall  be  lawfull  to  take  and  kill  those,  and  to  cut 
off  their  heads,  without  any  impeachment  of  our 
Sovereign  Lord  and  King,  his  heirs,  officers,  or 
ministers,  or  of  any  others." 

"Thus,  in  truth,"  justly  comments  Daniel 
O'Connell,  "  the  only  fact  necessary  to  be  ascer- 
tained, to  entide  an  Englishman  to  cut  off  the 
head  of  another  man,  was,  that  such  other  should 
be  an  Irishman.  For  if  the  Irishman  was  not  rob- 
bing, or  coming  from  robbing,  who  could  say  but 
that  he  might  be  going  to  rob  ;  '  in,  or  out,'  as 
the  statute  has  it.  And  the  Englishman — the 
cutter-off  of  the  head — was  made  sole  judge  of 
where  the  Irishman  was  Sfoino^,  and  of  what  he  in- 
tended  to  do.  The  followers  of  Mahomet,  with 
regard  to  their  treatment  of  their  Grecian  sub- 


128  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

jects,  were  angels  of  mercy  when  compared  with 
the  Engflish  in  Ireland.  Care  was  also  taken  that 
no  part  of  the  effect  of  the  law  should  be  lost  by 
the  mistaken  humanity  of  any  individual  English- 
man; for  an  additional  stimulant  was  given  by  the 
following  section  of  the  Act : 

"  'And  that  it  shall  be  lawful  by  authority  of  the 
said  Parliament  to  the  said  bringe7'  of  the  said 
head,  and  his  ayders  to  the  same,  for  to  destrain 
and  levy  by  their  own  hands,  of  every  man  having 
one  plow-land  in  the  barony  where  the  said  thief 
was  so  taken,  two-pence,  and  of  every  man  hav- 
ing half  a  plow-land  in  the  said  barony,  one- 
penny,  and  every  other  man  having  one  house 
and  goods  to  the  value  of  fourty  shillings,  one- 
penny,  and  of  every  other  cottier  having  house 
and  smoak,  one  half-penny.'  " 

There  was  one  other  provision  of  the  English 
dealings  with  the  Irish  people  which  was  as  de- 
structive to  prosperity  as  those  cited  were  to 
the  safety  of  Irish  life.  It  has  been  the  constant 
refrain  of  those  who  have  demanded  land  reform 
for  many  generations  that  the  Irish  tenant  gained 
nothing  from  industry  ;  that  a  premium  was  placed 
upon  laziness,  for,  as  the  tenant  made  the  land 
more  fertile,  the  landlord  came  and  pocketed  the 
increase  by  raising  the  rent.  At  an  early  stage 
in  Irish  history  the  Irish  tenant  had  to  live  under 
this  destructive  condition.  Ao-ain  let  us  otq  to  the 
writings  of  an  English  official  for  our  description 
of  this  grievance. 


THE   GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  129 

"  The  most  wicked  and  mischievous  custom  of 
all  was  that  of  Coin  and  Livery,  which  consisted 
in  taking  of  man's  meat,  horse  meat,  and  money, 
of  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  country,  at  the  will 
and  pleasure  of  the  soldier ;  li^ho,  as  the  phrase 
of  the  Scripture  is,  did  eat  up  the  people  as  it 
were  bread ;  for  that  he  had  no  other  entertain- 
ment. This  extortion  was  originally  Irish ;  for 
they  used  to  lay  bo7iaght^  upon  their  people,  and 
never  gave  their  soldiers  any  other  pay.  But 
when  the  English  had  learned  it  they  used  it  with 
more  insolence,  and  made  it  more  intolerable ;  for 
this  oppression  was  not  temporary,  nor  limited 
either  to  place  or  time;  but  because  there  was 
everywhere  a  continual  war,  either  offensive  or 
defensive,  and  every  lord  of  a  county,  and  every 
marcher,  made  war  and  peace  at  his  pleasure,  it 
became  universal  and  perpetual ;  and  indeed  was 
the  most  heavy  oppression  that  ever  was  used  in 
any  Christian  or  heathen  kingdom. — And  there- 
fore, vox  oppressorum,  this  crying  sin  did  draw 
down  as  great,  or  greater  plagues  upon  Ireland, 
than  the  oppression  of  the  Israelites  did  draw 
upon  the  land  of  Egypt.  For  the  plagues  of 
Egypt,  though  they  were  grievous,  were  but  of 
short  continuance  ;  but  the  plagues  of  Ireland 
lasted  four  hundred  years  together." 

The  natural  consequences  followed ;  they  may 

*  "  Bonaght"  was  the  Irish  term  for  billeting  of  soldiers,  with  a  right 
to  be  maintained  in  food. 


1 30  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

as  well  and  cannot  be  better  described  than  In 
the  words  of  Davies  : 

"  This  extortion  of  Coin  and  Livery  produced 
two  notorious  effects :  first,  it  made  the  land 
waste ;  next,  it  made  the  people  idle ;  for  when 
the  husbandman  had  labored  all  the  year,  the 
soldier  in  one  nisfht  consumed  the  fruits  of  all  his 
labor,  longique  perit  labor  irritus  anni. — Had  he 
reason  then  to  manure  the  land  for  the  next  year? 
Or  rather,  might  he  not  complain  as  the  shepherd 
in  Virgil : 

"  '  Impius  haec  tarn  cu!ta  novalia  mile;  habebit? 
Barbarus  has  segetes?     En  quo  discordia  cives 
Perduxit  miseros  ?     En  queis  consevimus  agros  ?  ' 

"And  hereupon  of  necessity  came  depopulation, 
banishment,  and  extirpation  of  the  better  sort  of 
subjects ;  and  such  as  remained  became  idle  and 
lookers-on,  expecting  the  event  of  those  miseries 
and  evil  times,  so  as  their  extreme  extortion  and 
oppression  hath  been  the  true  cause  of  the  idle- 
ness of  this  Irish  nation,  and  that  rather  the 
vulo^ar  sort  have  chosen  to  be  beo^grars  in  foreipfn 
countries  than  to  manure  their  fruitful  land  at 
home." 

It  will  probably  occur  to  the  reader  that  the 
horrible  oppression  thus  inflicted  on  the  Irish 
must  have  been  largely  the  result  of  their  own 
folly  or  ferocity.  It  will  be  answered  that  it  was 
a  case  of  constant  and  incessant  war  between  two 
forces  equally  barbarous,  relentless,  and  irrecon- 


THE  GREAT  IRISH  STRUGGLE.  131 

cilable,  and  that  if  the  Irish  were  savagely  treated 
and  regarded  as  foes  to  be  exterminated  by  the 
English  of  The  Pale,  it  was  because  the  English 
of  The  Pale  were  as  savagely  treated  by  the  Irish 
and  equally  regarded  as  wild  beasts  to  be  extir- 
pated. But  against  this  theory  we  call  in  again 
the  evidence  of  the  English  monarch's  Attorq,ey- 
General : 

"  But  perhaps,"  writes  Sir  John  Davies,  antici- 
pating this  objection,  "the  Irish  in  former  times  did 
wilfully  refuse  to  be  subject  to  the  laws  of  Eng- 
land, and  would  not  be  partakers  of  the  benefit 
thereof,  though  the  Crown  of  England  did  desire 
it ;  and  therefore  they  were  reputed  aliens,  out- 
laws, and  enemies.  Assuredly  the  contrary  doth 
appear." 

And  in  page  loi  he  expressly  declares, — 

"  That  for  the  space  of  two  hundred  years  at 
least,  after  the  first  arrival  of  Henry  II.  in  Ireland, 
the  Irish  would  have  gladly  embraced  the  laws  of 
England,  and  did  earnestly  desire  the  benefit  and 
protection  thereof;  which,  being  denied  them,  did 
of  necessity  cause  a  continual  bordering  war  be- 
tween the  English  and  Irish." 

And  finally  he  admirably  sums  up  the  whole 
case  when  he  writes : 

"  This,  then,  I  note  as  a  great  defect  in  the  civil 
policy  of  this  kingdom ;  in  that  for  the  space  of 
three  hundred  and  fifty  years  at  least  after  the 
conquest  first  attempted,  the  English  laws  were 


132  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

not  communicated  to  the  Irish,  nor  the  benefit 
and  protection  thereof  allowed  unto  them,  though 
they  earnestly  desired  and  sought  the  same :  for 
as  long  as  they  were  out  of  the  protection  of  the 
law,  so  as  every  Englishman  might  oppress,  spoil 
and  kill  them  without  control,  how  was  it  possible 
they  should  be  other  than  outlaws  and  enemies 
to  the  Crown  of  England  ?  If  the  king  would 
not  admit  them  to  the  condition  of  subjects,  how 
could  they  learn  to  acknowledge  and  obey  him  as 
their  sovereign  ?  When  they  might  not  con- 
verse or  commerce  with  any  civil  man,  nor  enter 
into  any  town  or  city  without  peril  of  their  lives, 
whither  should  they  fly  but  into  the  woods  and 
mountains,  and  there  live  in  a  wild  and  barbarous 
manner?  " 

Before  leaving  this  part  of  the  subject  there  is 
one  other  point  that  deserves  to  be  noticed.  The 
continuance  of  the  destructive  estrangfement  al- 
ready  described  between  the  English  authorities 
and  the  Irish  population  was  not  merely  against 
the  wishes  of  the  Irish  but  possibly  also  against 
the  wishes  of  English  kings  and  of  prudent  Eng- 
lish ministers.  It  was  the  great  Lords  who  really 
stood  between  the  two  peoples.  Thus  the  reason 
why  that  wise  monarch,  King  Edward  III.,  did  not 
extend  the  benefit  of  English  protection  and  Eng- 
lish law  to  the  Irish  people  was,  that  the  great 
Lords  of  Ireland,  the  Wicklows,  the  Stanleys,  and 
the  Rodens  of  the  day,  certified  to  the  king, — 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  133 

"That  the  Irish  might  not  be  naturalized,  with- 
out being  of  damage  or  prejudice  to  them,  the  said 
Lords,  or  to  the  Crown." 

This  point  is  put  still  more  clearly  in  the  history 
of  Ireland  written  by  a  Protestant  clergyman, 
named  Leland : 

"The  true  cause  which  for  a  long  time  fatally 
opposed  the  gradual  coalition  of  the  Irish  and 
English  race,  under  one  form  of  government,  was, 
that  the  ofreat  Engrlish  settlers  found  it  more  for 
their  immediate  interest,  that  a  free  course  should 
be  left  to  their  oppressions ;  that  many  of  those 
whose  lands  they  coveted  should  be  considered 
as  aliens  ;  that  they  should  be  furnished  for  their 
petty  wars  by  arbitrary  exactions ;  and  in  their 
rapines  and  massacres  be  freed  from  the  terrors 
of  a  rigidly  impartial  and  severe  tribunal." 

These  extracts  sufficiently  indicate  the  rela- 
tions that  existed  between  the  English  conquerors 
and  the  Irish  inhabitants.  It  was  not  unnatural 
under  such  circumstances  that  the  territories  of 
the  English  kings  did  not  increase ;  at  one  time 
they  had  fallen  as  low  as  four  counties  out  of  the 
entire  country.  The  wars  of  the  Roses  too  so 
much  occupied  the  attention  of  the  English  at 
home  that  the  Irish  were  able  to  drive  the  English 
out  of  town  after  town,  and  finally  out  of  county 
after  county  until  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII. 

The  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  was  marked  by 
several  rebellions  against  the  English  authority. 


134  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

In  the  course  of  these  rebellions  many  severe 
battles  were  fought ;  Irish  chiefs  were  conquerors 
and  conquered;  if  they  conquered  they  were  ac- 
cepted, if  they  were  conquered  they  were  brought 
to  London  and  after  a  short  period  in  the  Tower 
were  hanged  as  traitors  at  Tyburn.  In  this  way 
the  seeds  were  sown  of  severe  and  bitter  trouble 
in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  By  this  time  too  the 
design  of  extending  the  Protestant  religion  in 
Ireland  and  crushing  the  Catholic  had  taken  shape; 
and  wars  ensued  which  were  embittered  by  re- 
ligious passion  and  by  the  still  more  destructive 
factor  of  greed  for  land.  It  is  not  our  purpose  to 
detail  the  history  of  these  wars.  They  have  im- 
portance for  the  present  purpose  only  in  so  far 
as  they  bear  upon  the  land  struggle  and  explain 
the  state  of  the  land  question  as  it  exists  to-day. 

Suffice  it  then  to  say  that  all  the  great  families 
of  Ireland,  and  in  particular  the  great  Anglo-Irish 
families,  rose  in  succession  against  the  Queen's 
power.  Of  all  these  chiefs  the  most  important 
was  Shane  O'Neill.  Shane  O'Neill  is  one  of  the 
great  men  of  human  history.  With  his  cunning  he 
baffled  the  skilful  councillors  of  Elizabeth ;  in  bat- 
tle after  battle  he  conquered  the  largest  and  bravest 
armies  the  British  Queen  could  send  against  him, 
and  finally,  when  he  had  become  master  of  all 
Ulster,  he  ruled  it  with  greater  order  than  had  ever 
been  even  approached  before  his  time.  In  the  end, 
after  many  changes  of  fortune,  his  forces  were 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  135 

routed ;  he  himself,  flying  before  the  triumphant 
English  army,  was  assassinated,  and  his  kingdom 
was  broken  up  and  scattered.  A  short  time 
previously  rebellions  under  the  Geraldines  had 
been  beaten  in  the  southern  parts  of  the  country., 
With  the  defeat  of  the  O'Neill  the  conquest  of 
Ireland  by  Elizabeth  was  complete,  and  then  Eliza- 
beth proceeded  to  carry  out  the  second  part  of  the 
English  policy.  This  was  to  transfer  the  owner- 
ship, and,  so  far  as  possible,  the  occupation  of  the 
soil  from  the  native  Irish  to  English  lords  and 
English  husbandmen.  Thus  began  the  first  great 
era  of  confiscation  and  plantation. 

A  preliminary  to  these  steps  was  deemed 
necessary.  There  was  a  series  of  expeditions 
to  the  different  parts  of  Ireland,  which  should 
prepare  them  still  better  for  the  new  regime. 
These  expeditions  had  purposes  as  fell  and  were 
carried  out  by  means  as  execrable  as  any  re- 
corded in  history.  The  purpose  was  not  simply 
to  break  the  forces  or  quell  the  spirit  of  the  native 
population :  the  object  was  to  actually  clear  the 
island  of  Irish  settlers  by  a  war  of  extermination. 
Previously  and  simultaneously  was  there  made 
another  and  a  disastrous  change  in  the  Irish  law. 

"  Before  the  introduction  of  the  feudal  English 
system  of  tenure,"  writes  T.  M.  Healy,  "  the 
lands  of  Ireland  belonged  to  the  clans  of  Ireland. 
The  chief,  subject  to  certain  privileges  appur- 
tenant to  his  chieftaincy,  held  only  as  trustee  for 


136  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

the  tribe,  and  if  by  his  misfeasance  he  became 
personally  dispossessed,  the  rights  of  his  people 
were  in  no  wise  affected.  When,  however,  the 
councillors  of  Elizabeth  determined  to  subjugate 
the  entire  island,  and  to  substitute  British  for 
Brehon  law  throughout  its  whole  extent,  prince 
and  people  alike  suffered  when  defeated.  Victory 
for  the  English  resulted  in  the  dispossession  and 
spoliation  of  the  clansmen  as  well  as  of  the  chiefs 
who  led  them  to  the  battle ;  English  adventurers, 
by  the  Queen's  patent,  obtained  lordship  and 
dominion  over  the  conquered  territory ;  and  clan 
ownership  gave  place  to  private  property  in 
land." 

And  now  for  the  military  expeditions  which 
were  to  complete  the  work  that  had  been  begun 
by  the  conquest  of  O'Neill  and  the  change  in  the 
land  law.  These  expeditions,  like  other  events 
already  recorded,  we  can  describe,  fortunately, 
not  in  the  hot  language  of  modern  Irish  writers, 
but   in    the   friorid  and  unadorned  characters  of 

o 

the  Englishmen  who  themselves  enacted  them 
and  immediately  after  described  them. 

Mr.  Froude  transcribes  from  his  own  report  the 
following  letter  written  in  the  year  1576,  by 
Malby,  the  President  of  Connaught : 

"At  Christmas,"  he  wrote,  "I  marched  into  their 
territory  [Shan  Burke's],  and  finding  courteous 
dealing  with  them  had  like  to  have  cut  my  throat, 
I  thought  good  to   take   another  course,  and  so 


THE   GREAT    IRISH    STRUGGLE.  137 

with  determination  to  consume  them  with  fire  and 
sword,  sparing  neither  old  nor  young,  I  entered 
their  mountains.  I  burnt  all  their  corn  and 
houses,  and  committed  to  the  sword  all  that  could 
be  found,  where  were  slain  at  that  time  above 
sixty  of  their  best  men,  and  among  them  the  best 
leaders  they  had.  This  was  Shan  Burke's  country. 
Then  I  burnt  Ulick  Burke's  country.  In  like 
manner  I  assaulted  a  castle  where  the  garrison 
surrendered.  I  put  them  to  the  misericordia  of 
my  soldiers.  They  were  all  slain.  Thence  I 
went  on,  sparing  none  which  came  in  my  way, 
which  cruelty  did  so  amaze  their  followers,  that 
they  could  not  tell  where  to  bestow  themselves. 
Shan  Burke  made  means  to  me  to  pardon  him, 
and  forbear  killing  of  his  people.  I  would  not 
hearken,  but  went  on  my  way.  The  gentlemen 
of  Clanrickard  came  to  mc.  I  found  it  was  but 
dallying  to  win  time,  so  I  left  Ulick  as  little  corn 
and  as  few  houses  standing  as  I  left  his  brother, 
and  what  people  was  found  had  as  little  favor  as 
the  other  had.  It  was  all  done  in  rain,  and  frost, 
and  storm,  journeys  in  such  weather  bringing 
them  the  sooner  to  submission.  They  are  humble 
enough  now,  and  will  yield  to  any  terms  we  like 
to  offer  them." 

There  are  descriptions  of  similar  expeditions 
in  Munster.  They  are  also  drawn  by  English 
hands.  It  is  a  report  by  Sir  George  Carew,  the 
Enorlish  General. 

o 


138  GLADSTONE— PARNELL 

"  The  President  having  received  certaine  infor- 
mation that  the  Mounster  fugitives  were  har- 
boured in  those  parts,  having  before  burned  all 
the  houses  and  corne,  and  taken  great  preyes  in 
Owny  Onubrian  and  Kilquig,  a  strong  and  fast 
countrey,  not  farre  from  Limerick,  diverted  his 
forces  into  East  ClanwiUiam  and  Muskeryquirke, 
where  Pierce  Lacy  had  lately  beene  succoured; 
and  harassing  the  country,  killed  all  mankind 
that  were  found  therein,  for  a  terrour  to  those  as 
should  give  releefe  to  runagate  traitors.  Thence 
wee  came  into  Arleaghe  woods,  where  wee  did  the 
like,  not  leaving  behind  us  man  or  beast,  corne 
or  cattle,  except  such  as  had  been  conveyed  into 
castles." — Pacata  Hibei'nia,  659. 

"  No  spectacle,"  writes  Morrison,  an  English 
Protestant  historian  of  these  wretched  times, 
"  was  more  frequent  in  the  ditches  of  the  towns, 
and  especially  in  wasted  countries,  than  to  see 
multitudes  of  these  poor  people,  the  Irish,  dead, 
with  their  mouths  all  colored  green  by  eating 
netdes,  docks,  and  all  things  they  could  rend 
above  ground." 

And  now  that  the  native  race  had  thus  been 
destroyed,  there  comes  the  result  for  which  the 
destruction  had  taken  place.  Confiscation  follows 
extirpation. 

"  Proclamation,"  says  Godkin,  in  his  "  Land 
War,"  "was  made  throuo-hout  England,  invitino- 
'younger  brothers  of  good  families'  to  undertake 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE,  I39 

the  plantation  of  Desmond — each  planter  to  ob- 
tain a  certain  scope  of  land,  on  condition  of  set- 
tling thereupon  so  many  families — '  none  of  the 
native  Irish  to  be  admitted.'  Under  these  condi 
tions,  Sir  Christopher  Hatton  took  up  10,000 
acres  in  Waterford ;  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  1 2,000 
acres,  partly  in  Waterford  and  partly  in  Cork ; 
Sir  William  Harbart,  or  Herbert,  13,000  acres  in 
Kerry;  Sir  Edward  Denny,  6,000  acres  in  the 
same  county;  Sir  Warren  St.  Leger,  and  Sir 
Thomas  Norn's,  6,000  acres  each  in  Cork ;  Sir 
William  Courtney,  10,000  acres  in  Limerick;  Sir 
Edward  Fitton,  11,500  acres  in  Tipperary  and 
Waterford;  and  Edmund  Spenser,  3,000  acres  in 
Cork,  on  the  beautiful  Blackwater.  The  other 
notable  undertakers  were  the  Hides,  Butchers, 
Wirths,  Berkleys,  Trenchards,  Thorntons,  Bourch- 
ers,  Billingsleys,  etc.  Some  of  these  grants,  es- 
pecially Raleigh's,  fell  in  the  next  reign  to  Richard 
Boyle,  the  so-called  'great  Earl  of  Cork  ' — proba- 
bly the  most  pious  hypocrite  to  be  found  in  the 
long  roll  of  the  *  Munster  Undertakers.'  " 

And  so  ended  the  first  great  work  of  trans- 
ferring the  soil  of  Ireland.  The  work  continued 
throughout  the  three  following  reigns. 

The  Irish  hailed  the  accession  of  the  son  of  the 
Catholic  Mary  of  Scotland  with  great  joy  and 
hopes  for  a  happier  era  for  their  faith  and  coun- 
try, but  they  were  destined  to  be  cruelly  and 
quickly  undeceived.     One  of  the  earliest  acts  of 


140  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

the  King  was  a  declaration  that  Hberty  of  con- 
science was  not  to  be  granted;  but  it  soon  be- 
came evident  that  the  poHcy  of  AngHcising  Ire- 
land begun  in  the  previous  reign  was  to  be 
carried  out  in  the  present  in  a  thorough  and 
systematic  manner. 

The  King  had  fixed  his  eyes  on  Ulster  as  a 
fitting  quarter  in  which  to  carry  out  a  scheme  of 
plantations,  and  a  scheme  for  getting  rid  of  the 
native  chiefs  was  speedily  developed.  This  was 
found  in  the  discovery  of  an  anonymous  letter 
conveniently  discovered  at  the  door  of  the  Coun- 
cil Chamber  in  Dublin  Castle,  disclosing  a  con- 
spiracy on  the  part  of  the  Earls  of  O'Neill  and 
O'Donnell  against  the  authority  of  the  Crown. 
No  evidence  was  then  nor  has  been  since  discov- 
ered, of  this  alleged  conspiracy,  but  the  earls 
were  at  once  proclaimed  traitors  and  fled  the 
kingdom  with  their  families  and  a  few  friends  and 
retainers.  Ulster  was  now  ready  to  James'  hand. 
It  was  described  as  a  fertile  province,  well  watered, 
plentifully  supplied  with  all  the  necessaries  for 
man's  subsistence,  and  yielded  abundant  products 
for  purposes  of  commerce.  The  lands  were  in- 
deed occupied  by  the  Irish  natives,  who  had  on  the 
King's  accession  been  assured  in  their  possession 
of  their  fields  on  a  tenure  which  would  remain  un- 
affected by  the  submission  or  rebellion  of  their 
chiefs.     But  they  could  be  easily  dealt  with. 

A  proclamation  was  issued   confiscating    and 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE 


141 


vesting  in  tlie  Crown  six  counties  in  Ulster — 
Tyrone,  Derry,  Donegal,  Armagh,  Fermanagh, 
and  Cavan,  comprising  in  all  three  and  three- 
quarter  millions  of  acres.  The  scheme  of  settle- 
ment was  carefully  designed  to  avoid  the  errors 
of  former  plantations.  Those  in  previous  reigns 
had  been  acknowledged  failures,  by  reason  of  the 
enormous  size  of  the  grants  made  to  the  "under- 
takers." The  "undertakers,"  as  Sir  Walter  Ra- 
leigh and  his  countrymen  were  called,  found  their 
grants  too  large  to  settle  and  farm  personally. 
They  returned  for  the  most  part  to  England,  took 
no  trouble  to  plant  English  farmers  in  the  land, 
suffered  the  Irish  to  remain  on  the  land,  and  drew 
their  rents  in  peace. 

In  Ulster,  however,  the  tracts  were  to  be  of 
manageable  extent ;  the  natives  were  to  have  lo- 
cations of  their  own  to  which  they  were  to  be 
removed ;  the  new  settlers,  drawn  from  England 
and  Scotland,  were  to  be  massed  and  grouped 
together  for  mutual  protection.  The  escheated 
lands  were  to  be  divided  into  lots  of  from  i,ooo  to 
2,000  acres,  at  rents  of  i%d^  to  2}^d.  per  acre, 
and  distributed  partly  among  the  new  settlers, 
partly  among  English  servitors,  and  partly  among 
the  well-affected  natives.  Every  "undertaker" 
bound  himself  to  plant  on  the  soil  a  certain  num- 
ber of  fee-farmers,  lease-holders,  artisans,  and 
laborers,  down  to  the  lowest  grade ;  all  grantees 
and  their  tenants  were  to  take  the  oath  of  su- 


142  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

premacy,  and  none  were  permitted  to  employ 
natives  or  Catholics  in  any  capacity  whatsoever. 

Of  the  three  and  three-quarter  millions  of  acres 
which  were  confiscated,  about  one-fifth  was  valua- 
ble or  "  fat "  land,  and  this  was  mainly  appor- 
tioned in  this  manner.  Fifty  Englishmen  and 
fifty-nine  Scotchmen  (the  needy  countrymen  of 
the  King)  got  among  them  162,500  acres.  The 
most  noticeable  names  among  the  English  plant- 
ers were  Powell,  Heron,  Ridgway,  Willoughbie, 
Parsons,  Audley,  Davis,  Blennerhasset,  Wilson, 
Cornwall,  Mansfield,  and  Archdale,  and  among 
the  Scotch  Douglas,  Abercorn,  Boyd,  Stewart, 
Cunningham,  Rallston,  and  the  prolific  breed  of 
the  Hamiltons,  who  obtained  estates  by  the 
thousand  acres  in  every  one  of  the  six  counties, 
and  whose  descendants  are  to  be  found  to-day  in 
every  office  of  profit  and  emolument  in  the 
country. 

Sixty  servitors,  or  persons  who  had  served  the 
Crown  in  a  civil  or  military  capacity,  swallowed 
up  50,000  acres,  and  among  these  were  some  of 
the  prominent  organizers  of  this  wholesale  plun- 
der and  some  of  the  cruel  enemies  and  oppressors 
of  the  Celtic  population.  Chief  amongst  these 
were  Sir  Toby  Caulfield,  Sir  William  Parsons, 
surveyor-general  of  the  lands,  ancestor  of  the 
present  Lord  Rosse,  Sir  Robert  Wingfield,  astute 
legal  sycophant,  Sir  John  Davis,  Sir  Henry  Fol- 
llot,    the    merciless   Sir   Arthur   Chicester,    lord 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  I43 

deputy  and  superintendent  of  the  plantation,  and 
captains  and  lieutenants  of  lesser  fame,  Cooke, 
Atherton,  Stewart,  Vaughan,  Browne,  Atkinson, 
etc.  Seventy-seven  thousand  acres  fell  to  the 
share  of  the  Protestant  bishops,  deans  and  chap- 
ter, who  had  already  obtained  possession  of  all 
the  Catholic  churches  and  abbeys  throughout  the 
island.  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  founded  in  the 
late  reign,  obtained  30,000  acres  (47,101  acres 
were  reserved  for  corporate  towns),  and  the  286 
so-styled  loyal  Irish  received  about  180  acres 
each,  of  what,  it  may  be  safely  asserted,  was  the 
most  unprofitable  portion  of  the  "lean." 

The  Corporation  of  the  City  of  London,  and  the 
twelve  City  Guilds,  the  Companies  of  Skinners, 
Fishmongers,  Haberdashers  and  the  like,  took  up 
the  whole  county  of  Derry,  209,800  acres  in  ex- 
tent, and  absentee  proprietors  on  a  large  scale 
have  drawn  rents  from  that  time  to  the  present 
from  lands  they  have  never  seen. 
-  Meantime,  the  native  peasantry  were  driven 
out  of  their  tribal  lands,  the  rich  glens  of  Antrim, 
the  meadow  lands  of  Fermanagh,  the  fertile 
plains  of  Armagh,  into  the  waste-lands,  mountain, 
moor,  bog,  marsh  of  these  and  the  adjoining 
counties. 

Shielded,  favored,  and  aided  by  the  law,  the 
success  of  the  plantation  made  itself  apparent 
when  in  a  few  years  commissioners  were  sent 
down   to    report    progress.     The    English    and 


144  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Scotch  grantees  were  actually  occupying  their 
lands  with  their  wives  and  families.  The  village 
of  Derry  had  become  the  town  of  "  London- 
derry," with  ramparts  twelve  feet  thick,  and  bat- 
tlemented  gates.  Castles,  mansions,  farm-houses, 
sprang  up  everywhere;  millwheels  turned,  or- 
chards bloomed,  villages  and  towns  rose  all 
around. 

Nevertheless  the  strict  letter  of  the  scheme  was 
not  and  could  not  be  carried  out.  Sufficient 
laborers  of  British  birth  could  not  be  obtained, 
and  numbers  of  the  natives  had  to  be  employed 
as  "  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water,"  and 
also  as  tenants,  who,  in  order  to  remain  in  their 
beloved  homes,  were  willing  to  pay  double  rents 
to  new  masters.  And  many  English  and  Scotch 
tenants,  failing  to  obtain  from  the  large  proprie- 
tors the  long  leases  guaranteed  to  them  by  the 
terms  of  the  act  of  settlement,  sold  their  interest 
in  their  holdings  to  the  Irish  and  others,  and  re- 
tired in  disgust  from  the  country.  It  was  mainly 
In  this  manner  sprang  up  the  custom  of  Ulster 
Tenant-right  as  a  part  of  the  unwritten  law  of  the 
province,  destined  to  share  largely  in  the  causes 
which  operated  to  contrast  the  well-being  of  its 
lanld-occu piers  with  the  insecurity  and  misery  of 
the  same  class  in  other  parts  of  Ireland. 

The  effect  of  the  Ulster  settlement  was  to 
create  a  lesser  Britain  in  Ireland,  composed  of 
men    whose  very  proximity  to    their  plundered 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  145 

neighbors  seemed  to  arouse  their  worst  passions 
of  hatred  and  sectarian  bitterness.  It  deprived 
the  native  Irish  of  all  title  to  the  lands  which  their 
race  had  held  from  time  immemorial,  and  reduced 
them  at  one  sweep  from  the  position  of  owners 
of  the  soil  they  tilled  to  that  of  outlaws  or  tenants- 
at-will,  only  countenanced  through  sheer  neces- 
sity, and  established  between  Ulster  and  the 
other  provinces  of  Ireland  a  contrast  at  once  pro- 
found and  painful,  and  a  discord  of  religion,  feel- 
ing and  nationality  which  has  often  manifested 
themselves  since  in  civil  disorder  and  disgraceful 
feuds,  and  which  are  only  slowly  disappearing  in 
our  own  day. 

The  coffers  of  James  were  so  well  filled  with  the 
profits  of  the  Ulster  settlement — with  the  pro- 
ceeds of  the  sale  of  broad  acres  and  brand-new 
baronetcies — that  his  eyes  turned  to  the  other 
parts  of  Ireland  for  similar  spoil.  And  a  system 
of  plunder  by  legal  chicanery  was  invented.  The 
counties  still  inhabited  by  the  native  Irish  were 
Wicklow,  Wexford,  and  those  lying  along  the  left 
bank  of  the  Shannon,  viz.,  Leitrim,  Longford, 
and  the  western  portion  of  Westmeath,  Kings, 
and  Queens  Counties. 

"A  Commission  of  Inquiry  into  Defective 
Titles"  was  sent  down  into  these  districts  with 
directions  to  collect  evidence  as  to  the  holdincr  of 
the  land  therein,  and  what  title  the  Crown  had  in 
any  part  of  the  same.     It  was  gravely  asserted 


146  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

that,  whereas  the  Anglo-Norman  settlers  to  whom 
the  Plantagenet  Kings  granted  these  lands  300 
years  back  had  in  later  evil  days  been  driven 
from  their  grants  by  the  original  native  owners, 
and  retired  to  England,  the  deserted  lands  had, 
through  the  action  of  various  statutes  against 
absentees,  reverted  to  the  Crown. 

To  give  an  appearance  of  legality  to  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Commission,  juries  were  empan- 
elled and  forced  to  give  verdicts  in  favor  of  the 
Crown ;  witnesses  were  compelled  to  supply 
satisfactory  evidence — the  means  employed  for 
the  purpose  being  of  the  most  revolting  descrip- 
tion. Courts-martial  were  held  before  which  un- 
willing witnesses  were  tried  on  charges  of  treason, 
imprisoned,  pilloried,  branded  with  red-hot  irons, 
and  even  put  to  death,  some  being  actually 
roasted  on  gridirons  over  charcoal  fires.  A 
horde  of  "discoverers"  sprang  up  whose  business 
it  became  to  pick  holes  in  men's  titles  to  estates, 
sharing  the  proceeds  with  the  King.  Every  legal 
trick  and  artifice  was  unscrupulously  resorted  to. 
The  old  pipe-rolls  in  Dublin  and  the  patent  rolls 
in  the  Tower  of  London  were  searched  to  dis- 
cover flaws  in  titles,  clerical  errors,  inaccurate 
wording,  every  defect  in  fact  which  might  frighten 
the  present  holder  of  the  land  into  paying  a 
heavy  amount  for  a  fresh  patent,  or,  failing  his  ac- 
quiescence, would  entitle  the  handing  over  of  his 
estate  to  some  "  discoverer,"  willing  to  lay  down 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  J47 

a  round  sum  for  it.  By  such  means  as  these 
over  430,000  acres  were  confiscated  In  the  coun- 
ties above  mentioned.  The  old  proprietors  were 
required  to  sign  surrenders  of  their  lands,  and 
after  setting  apart  a  considerable  portion  for 
glebes,  etc.,  and  a  fourth  part  for  English  "  under- 
takers," the  remainder  was  restored  to  "  the  more 
deservinof"  at  fixed  rents. 

In  Loneford  the  natives  obtained  less  than  one- 
third  of  the  land  promised  them,  in  Leitrim  half, 
in  Queens  county  a'bout  two-thirds.  In  Wexford 
thirty-one  "undertakers"  obtained  33,000  acres, 
and  only  fifty-seven  natives  received  any  land  at 
all,  and  that  to  the  amount  of  24,615  acres  of  the 
most  unprofitable  portion.  The  residue  of  the  in- 
habitants of  this  county,  some  14,500  persons, 
were  given  merely  the  choice  of  being  evicted  or 
becoming  tenants-at-will.  Many  of  the  old  pro- 
prietors took  to  the  woods  and  became  "  outlaws;" 
others  like  the  tribe  of  the  O'Moores  in  Queens 
county  were  transplanted  bodily  into  Kerry. 

In  VVicklow  the  O'Byrnes,  whose  estates  cov- 
ered half  the  county,  were  imprisoned  on  a  charge 
of  conspiracy,  trumped  up  against  them  by  Sir 
William  Parsons,  Lord  Esmond,  Sir  Richard 
Graham  and  other  prominent  undertakers,  on  the 
evidence  of  notorious  thieves.  They  were  ulti- 
mately declared  Innocent  and  set  at  liberty,  but 
their  lands  had  been  in  the  meantime  declared 
forfeit  and  divided  between  Parsons  and  Esmond, 
and  were  not  afterwards  restored  to  them. 


148  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

The  King  profited  immensely  by  the  various 
fines  and  forfeitures,  and  the  customs  duties 
swelled  In  a  single  year  from  ^50  to  ^10,000. 

The  plantation  policy  flooded  Ireland  with  a 
host  of  impecunious  Englishmen  and  Scotch- 
men— admittedly  the  scum  of  both  nations — 
debtors,  bankrupts,  fugitives  from  justice,  land- 
jobbers  and  land-speculators,  who  soon,  through 
ownership  of  land,  secured  power,  influence  and 
rank.  They  held  aloof  from  the  natives,  culti- 
vated the  "  Castle,"  and  were  the  embryo  of  the 
Protestant  ascendency  and  aristocracy  of  later 
days. 

More  than  half  the  present  Irish  peerage 
sprang  from  such  beginnings,  of  which  two  ex- 
amples will  serve  as  types  of  the  whole.  The 
most  remarkable  of  the  new  nobility  was  Richard 
Boyle.  He  was  the  son  of  a  Herefordshire 
squire,  fled  from  England  on  account  of  his 
perjuries  and  forgeries,  and  landed  in  Dublin 
with  only  a  few  pounds  in  his  pocket.  He  man- 
aged to  get  the  office  of  deputy  escheator  of 
the  lands  of  Munster,  fraudulently  became  pos- 
sessed of  a  considerable  extent  of  forfeited  Irish 
estates ;  and  though  imprisoned  for  felony  six 
times  in  five  years  cheated  justice,  ingratiated 
himself  with  the  various  lord-deputies,  and  finally 
became  first  Earl  of  Cork  and  a  privy-councillor. 

Of  the  same  kidney  was  William  Parsons,  an- 
cestor of  the  Earls  of  Rosse.     An  English  ad- 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  I49 

venturer,  arriving  in  Ireland  with  only  ^40  in 
his  pocket,  he  married  a  niece  of  the  Surveyor- 
General,  succeeded  to  that  office,  and  became  a 
commissioner  of  the  escheated  lands  in  Ulster, 
obtaining  for  himself  1,890  acres  in  Tyrone,  and 
2,000  acres  in  Fermanagh  alone.  Ultimately 
ttirough  means  as  unscrupulous  as  those  by  which 
he  deprived  the  O'Byrnes  of  their  lands  he  se- 
cured over  8,000  acres  and  amassed  an  immense 
fortune. 

The  system  of  "  inquiry  into  defective  titles " 
in  Leinster  had  proved  so  remunerative  that 
James  determined  to  extend  it  to  hitherto  un- 
touched parts  of  the  island.  The  province  of 
Connaught  w^as  the  only  one  which  had  not  been 
planted.  The  proprietors  had  in  161 6  made  a 
surrender  of  their  lands  to  the  King-  to  receive 
new  patents,  for  which  they  paid  fees  amounting 
to  ;^3,ooo.  Owing,  however,  to  the  neglect  of  the 
clerks  in  Chancery,  neither  the  surrenders  nor 
regrants  were  enrolled,  and  the  titles  were  all 
declared  defective  and  the  lands  held  to  be 
vested  in  the  Crown.  A  proclamation  was  issued 
for  a  new  plantation,  but  the  alarmed  proprietors, 
aware  that  it  was  money  the  King  was  most  in 
need  of,  offered  him  a  bribe  of  ^10,000  (equal 
to  ;^i 00,000  at  the  present  day)  to  induce  him 
to  abandon  his  design.  The  death  of  James  put 
an  end  to  the  negotiations,  and  it  was  i-eserved 
for  his   son,   Charles    I.,  to    replenish    the    royal 


150  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

coffers  at  the  expense  of  the  Connaught  land- 
owners. His  afjent  in  this  matter  was  the  no- 
torious  Wentworth,  who  carried  out  his  poUcy 
of  "thorough"  by  dragooning  both  the  Irish 
Parliament  and  the  Irish  Church,  forcing  the  one 
to  vote  enormous  subsidies,  and  the  other  to  ac- 
cept his  ideas  in  matters  of  religion.  Under 
threats  of  confiscation,  various  subsidies  were  ob- 
tained, but  at  last  after  an  elaborate  hunting  up 
and  inquiry  into  old  title-deeds  and  royal  grants, 
the  whole  of  Connaught  was  declared  to  be  the 
property  of  the  Crown  ;  and  Commissioners  with 
Wentworth  at  their  head  went  into  the  province 
to  find  verdicts  for  the  King-.  These  were  ob- 
tained  by  the  same  means  as  had  succeeded  in 
Leinster,  extreme  resistance  being  only  met  with 
in  Galway  alone,  where  juries  were  fined  /^^,ooo 
apiece,  and  lodged  in  prison  until  the  fines  were 
paid,  or  their  decisions  retracted.  The  landlords 
at  last  submitted,  paid  heavily  in  fines,  gave  up  a 
portion  of  their  estates  for  Church  purposes,  and 
were  so  left  in  peace. 

The  Irish  met  this  ill-treatment  on  the  part  of 
the  perfidious  Stuart  with  a  loyalty  that  may  be  de= 
scribed  according  to  taste  as  generous  or  imbecile. 
When  the  rebellion  broke  out  in  England,  Charles 
appealed  for  help  to  his  subjects  in  Ireland. 
They  rose  in  arms,  both  Catholic  and  Protestant, 
and  came  nearer  to  victory  than  they  had  been 
for  many  a  long  year ;    and  then,  when  Charles 


THE   L-KKAl-   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  l^l 

was  defeated  and  beheaded,  Vae  vidis  was  the 
cry.  Oliver  Cromwell  came  to  Ireland.  He  suc- 
ceeded in  quelling  the  revolt  in  favor  of  the  King 
after  the  most  wholesale  massacres ;  and  then  oc- 
curred the  greatest  scheme  of  confiscation  yet  de- 
scribed in  the  history  of  the  Irish  nation.  The 
whole  of  Ireland,  20,000,000  acres,  was  declared 
forfeit,  and  three-fourths  of  the  inhabitants  were 
to  be  expelled.  Exemption  was  made  in  favor 
of  some  husbandmen,  plowmen,  laborers,  and 
artificers,  who  would  be  necessary  to  the  new 
planters,  and  of  a  few  well  affected  to  the  Com- 
monwealth. The  Irish  soldiers  who  laid  down 
their  arms  were  forced  to  enlist  for  foreien  ser- 
vice.  The  widows,  wives  and  families  of  the  sol- 
diery to  the  number  of  100,000  souls  were  trans- 
ported to  the  West  Indies  to  be  the  slaves  or 
mistresses  of  the  planters  there.  The  rest  of  the 
Irish  people — of  Munster,  Leinster,  Ulster — gentle 
and  simple,  land-owners  and  burgesses,  Presby- 
terians and  Catholics,  were  forced,  in  the  depth 
of  the  v/inter  of  1655,  ^^  leave  their  homes,  and 
cross  the  Shannon  to  allotments  assigned  to  them 
in  Clare  and  Connaught,  the  most  barren  portions 
of  all  Ireland,  where  they  were  hemmed  in  by  the 
sea  on  the  one  side  and  a  ring  of  soldiers  on  the 
other,  w^ho  had  orders  to  shoot  down  all  who 
attempted  to  cross  the  boundary.  The  evacuated 
land,  15,582487  acres  in  extent,  was  then  dis- 
tributed, the  orovernment  first  reserving  to  icself 


152  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

the  cities,  church-lands,  tithes,  and  the  four  coun- 
ties of  Dublin,  Kildare,  Carlow  and  Cork.  The 
cities  were  afterwards  cleared  of  their  inhabitants 
(who  were  nearly  all  of  English  descent)  and 
sold  to  English  merchants.  The  other  twenty- 
three  counties  were  then  divided  between  those 
"adventurers"  who  had  advanced  money 
(amounting  to  ^360,000)  to  the  Parliamentary 
army  and  the  Parliamentary  troops  in  lieu  of 
arrears  of  pay  due  to  them  amounting  to  £1,- 
550,000.  County  Louth  was  given  wholly  to  the 
adventurers,  and  the  counties  of  Donegal,  Derry, 
Tyrone,  Leitrim,  Fermanagh,  Cavan,  Monaglian, 
Wicklow,  Wexford,  Longford,  Kilkenny  and 
Kerry  wholly  to  the  soldiers.  Then  Antrim  and 
Limerick  and  the  nine  counties  lying  diagonally 
between  them,  viz.,  Down,  Armagh,  Meath,  West- 
meath,  Kildare,  Carlow,  Kings,  Queens,  and  Tip- 
perary  were  divided  amongst  both  classes  of 
claimants.  Afterwards  portions  of  Connaught, 
viz.,  the  county  of  Sligo  and  parts  of  Mayo  and 
Leitrim,  were  taken  from  the  transplanted  Irish 
to  satisfy  arrears  of  pay  due  to  part  of  the  English 
army  who  had  fought  in  England  during  the  civil 
war.  Debentures  were  issued  in  recognition  of 
each  claim,  and  localities  assigned  to  each  rejj-i- 
ment.  These  debentures  were  put  up  to  auction, 
and  large  estates  were  put  together  by  the  pur- 
chase of  them. 

And  yet  the  plantation  failed  in  its  main  object, 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE  I53 

as  previous  ones  had  done,  through  the  gradual 
absorption  of  the  planters  among  the  native  Irish 
notwithstanding  strict  prohibitions  against  mutual 
intercourse.  And  many  estates  through  purchase 
or   marriao-e    fell  aorain    into    the    hands    of  old 

o  o 

masters.  Forty  years  after  the  settlement,  it  is 
related  that  numbers  of  the  children  of  Crom- 
well's soldiers  could  not  speak  a  word  of  English. 
Thus  ended  the  last  grreat  unsettlement  of  the 
Irish  land.  In  the  reicjn  of  William  III.  there 
were  some  large  confiscations,  but  they  sunk  into 
insitrnificance  beside  the  wholesale  confiscations 
in  the  days  of  Elizabeth,  James  and  Cromwell. 
The  reign  of  William  III.  is  mainly  remarkable 
for  the  passing  of  what  is  known  as  the  Penal 
Code.  The  horrors  of  this  code  are  increased 
by  the  fact  that  it  was  passed  in  spite  of  the 
solemn  compact  between  the  English  and  the 
Irish.  In  the  civil  war  between  James  II.  and 
William  III.  the  Irish  with  characteristic  imbecility 
had  fought  on  the  side  of  the  State.  The  final 
issue  was  before  the  city  of  Limerick,  which  was 
defended  by  Sarsfield,  an  Irish  general  of  genius. 
After  a  long  siege  it  was  finally  agreed  that  the 
garrison  should  surrender  with  all  the  honors  of 
war,  and  that  in  return  they  should  get  con- 
cessions establishing  fully  their  religious  liberty. 
The  first  article  of  the  new  treaty  provided  that 
"the  Roman  Catholics  of  this  kingdom  shall 
enjoy  such  privileges  in  the  exercise  of  religion 


154  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

as  are  consistent  with  the  laws  of  Ireland,  or  as 
they  did  enjoy  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  and 
their  Majesties,  as  soon  as  their  affairs  will  permit 
them  to  summon  a  Parliament  in  this  kingdom, 
will  endeavor  to  procure  the  Roman  Catholics 
such  further  security  in  that  particular  as  may 
preserve  them  from  any  disturbance  upon  the  ac- 
count of  their  said  relicrion."  The  ink  of  this 
was  scarcely  dry  when  Catholics  were  ordered  at 
the  meetinof  of  the  Irish  Parliament  to  take  an 
oath  denying  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  transub- 
stantiation  and  pronouncing  the  sacrifice  of  the 
Mass  damnable  and  idolatrous.  No  Catholic 
could,  of  course,  take  such  an  oath,  and  the  de- 
sired result  was  brought  about.  The  Irish  Par- 
liament consisted  exclusively  of  Protestants. 
The  penal  code  first  took  precautions  against  the 
education  of  Catholics.  They  were  forbidden  to 
keep  school  in  Ireland  and  were  prohibited  at 
the  same  time  to  send  their  children  to  be  edu- 
cated abroad ;  then  they  were  disarmed,  and 
statutes  were  passed  prohibiting  the  makers  of 
weapons  from  receiving  Catholic  apprentices,  and 
that  authorized  the  authorities  to  search  for  arms 
in  the  houses  of  Catholics  by  night  and  by  day. 
Catholic  priests  were  commanded  to  leave  the 
kingdom  before  May  9th,  1668.  The  bishops  and 
priests  who  ventured  to  enter  the  country  were 
subjected  to  imprisonment  and  banishment  for  the 
first  offence,  and  put  to  death  on  the  second.     In 


THE   GREAT    IRISH   STRUGGLE.  157 

the  reign  of  Anne  the  code  was  rendered  still  more 
severe.  In  order  further  to  prevent  the  chance 
of  education,  a  Catholic  could  not  employ  or  act 
as  a  private  tutor.  He  could  not  buy  land,  and 
if  he  did  possess  land  he  was  obliged  to  leave  it 
in  equal  parts  among  all  his  children,  so  that  the 
papist  land  might  be  distributed  and  have  no 
chance  of  accumulating.  Then  there  was  an 
atrocious  law  by  which  an  eldest  son,  on  becoming 
a  Protestant,  could  obtain  possession  of  the  entire 
land  and  disinherit  the  rest  of  his  relatives.  A 
Catholic  could  not  have  a  lease  for  more  than 
thirty-one  years.  All  the  Civil  Senace,  all  the 
Municipalities,  all  the  Army  and  the  Navy,  and  the 
Professions,  except  that  of  medicine,  were  closed 
to  the  Catholics.  A  Catholic  could  not  go  more 
than  five  miles  from  his  house  without  a  pass- 
port. He  could  not  keep  a  horse  above  the 
value  of  ^5.  If  the  farm  of  a  Catholic  yielded 
one-third  more  than  the  yearly  rent  a  Protestant 
by  swearing  to  that  fact  could  evict  him ;  ana  li  a 
Protestant  could  be  proved  guilty  of  holding  an 
estate  in  trust  for  a  Catholic  he  could  be  dis- 
possessed. The  Penal  Code  invaded  domestic 
life.  A  son  becoming  a  Protestant  could  demand 
one-third  of  his  father's  income ;  a  wife  be- 
coming a  Protestant  was  free  from  her  husband's 
control  and  could  demand  alimony.  The  decrees 
against  priests  were  rendered  also  severe ;  3,000 
were  regist(|red,  and  others  were  liable  to  death, 


158  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

and  in  order  that  no  further  priests  might  be 
ordained  no  bishop  was  allowed  in  the  country. 
Under  these  laws  there  grew  up  the  hateful  race 
known  to  Irishmen  as  Priest-Hunters,  who  for 
the  sake  of  fifty  pounds'  reward  in  the  case  of  a 
bishop,  twenty  in  the  case  of  a  priest,  and  ten 
pounds  in  that  of  a  school-master,  betrayed  min- 
isters of  religion  and  the  humble  promoters  of 
education  to  the  authorities.  The  Catholics 
refused  to  conform  to  these  hideous  laws.  Mass 
was  said  on  the  mountains  with  scouts  watching  to 
see  whether  the  British  soldiers  were  approaching, 
and  many  priests  fell  martyrs  to  their  creed. 
Finally  the  Catholics  were  prevented  from  voting 
for  members  of  Parliament  or  members  of  cor- 
porations. The  whole  code  was  well  summed  up 
by  the  judge  who  declared  that  the  law  did  not 
suppose  the  existence  of  any  such  person  as  an 
Irish  Roman  Catholic,  nor  could  the  people  even 
breathe  without  the  surveillance  of  the  govern- 
ment. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   DESTRUCTION    OF    IRISH    INDUSTRIES. 

THE  final  result  of  it  all — the  massacre,  the 
confiscation,  the  Penal  Laws — was  that  at 
the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  Irish 
Catholics  were  owners  of  just  one-seventh  of  the 
soil  of  Ireland.  On  the  other  hand,  the  landlords 
were  placed  in  a  position  that  developed  between 
them  and  the  tenantry  the  worst  and  the  fiercest 
passions.  They  were  foreigners,  and  they  had 
acquired  the  lands  of  the  natives  by  robbery  or 
by  massacre.  They  were  Protestants,  and  the 
Penal  Code,  making  the  Catholic  religion  a  legal 
offence,  gave  to  the  Protestant  creed  a  social  as- 
cendancy. On  the  one  side  the  landlords  re- 
garded themselves  as  by  race  and  by  creed  ele- 
vated as  much  above  the  tenant  as  ever  had  South 
Carolina  planter  been  over  negro  slaves ;  and  on 
the  other  hand  the  tenant  saw  in  the  landlord 
a  tyrant  with  the  hated  additions  of  foreign  blood 
and  a  different  creed.  From  this  evil  state  of 
things  grew  up  the  melancholy  relations  between 
the  Irish  landlord  and  the  Irish  tenant  which  have 
produced  in  Ireland  a  more  morbid  condition  of 

159 


IGO  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

things  than  exists  in  any  other  part  of  the  world 
and  involved  the  two  classes  in  a  persistent,  re- 
lendess,  sanguinary  war,  which  is  not  even  yet 
closed,  the  landlords  on  their  side  treating  the 
tenants  as  creatures,  not  merely  of  another  race 
and  creed,  but  of  another  and  inferior  species. 
They  inflicted  upon  them  sufferings  that  few  men 
would  care  to  inflict  on  the  lower  animals ;  and 
the  tenants  responded  by  forming  assassination 
lodges  and  perpetrating  murders  cold-blooded, 
systematic,  unrepented. 

"  Of  all  the  fatal  gifts,"  says  Mr.  Froude,  deal- 
ing with  this  part  of  the  case,  "  which  we  bestowed 
on  our  unhappy  possession  [Ireland],  the  greatest 
was  the  English  system  of  owning  land.  Land, 
properly  speaking,  cannot  be  owned  by  any  man 
— it  belonors  to  all  the  human  race.  Laws  have  to 
be  made  to  secure  the  profits  of  their  industry  to 
those  who  cultivate  it ;  but  the  private  property 
of  this  or  that  person  is  that  which  he  is  entitled  to 
deal  with  as  he  pleases  ;  this  the  land  never  ought 
to  be  and  never  strictly  is.  In  Ireland,  as  in  all 
primitive  civilizations,  the  soil  was  divided  among 
the  tribes.  Each  tribe  collectively  owned  its 
district.  Under  the  feudal  system  the  proprietor 
was  the  Crown,  as  representing  the  nation ;  while 
subordinate  tenures  were  held  with  duties  attached 
to  them,  and  were  liable  on  their  non-fulfil- 
ment to  forfeiture.  In  England  the  burden  *of 
defence  was  on  the  land.     Every  gentleman,  ac- 


THE   GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  igl 

cording  to  his  estate,  was  bound  to  bring  so  many 
men  into  the  field  properly  armed  and  accoutred. 
When   a   standing  army  was   substituted  for  the 
old  levies,  the  country  squires  served  as  unpaid 
magistrates    on    the   commission    of    the   peace. 
The  country  squire  system  was,  in  fact,  a  develop- 
ment of  the  feudal  system ;  and,  as  we  gave  the 
feudal  system   to   Ireland,  so  we  tried  long  and 
earnestly  to  give  them  our  landownership.    The  in- 
tention, doubdess,  was  as  good  as  possible  in  both 
cases,  but  we  had  taken  no  trouble  to  understand 
Ireland,  and  we  failed   as  completely  as  before. 
The   duties    attached    to    landed    property   died 
away  or  were  forgotten — the  ownership  only  re- 
mained.    The  people,  retaining  their  tribal   tra- 
ditions, believed  that  they  had   rights  upon  the 
land  on  which  they  lived.     The  owner  believed 
that  there  were  no   rights  but  his  own.     In  Eng- 
land  the  rights  of  landlords   have   similarly  sur- 
vived their  duties,  but  they  have  been   modified 
by  custom  or  public  opinion.     In  Ireland  the  pro- 
prietor was  an  alien,  with  the  fortunes  of  the  resi- 
dents upon  his  estates  in   his  hands  and  at  his 
mercy.     He  was  divided  from  them  in  creed  and 
language ;    he  despised  them,  as  of  an   inferior 
race,  and  he  acknowledged  no  interest  in  common 
with  them.     Had  he  been  allowed  to  trample  on 
them,  and   make  them   his  slaves,  he  would  have 
cared   for    them,   perhaps,  as    he    cared    for   his 
horses.     But  their  persons  were  free,  while  their 


152  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

farms  and  houses  were  his ;  and  thus  his  only 
object  was  to  wring  out  of  them  the  last  penny 
which  they  could  pay,  leaving  them  and  their 
children  to  a  life  scarcely  raised  above  the  level 
of  their  own  pigs." 

Meantime  the  British  authorities  took  care  to 
aggravate  all  the  evils  of  the  land  system  by  an- 
other set  of  laws.  Manufactures  might  have 
drawn  away  a  section  of  the  people  from  agricul- 
ture, and  would  thus  have  relieved  the  pressure 
upon  the  soil.  There  would  then  have  been  less 
of  the  competition  which  placed  the  tenantry  at 
the  mercy  of  the  landlords :  the  landlords  would 
have  been  compelled  to  offer  the  tenant  lower 
rents:  and  thus  manufactures  would  have  fulfilled 
a  double  purpose — they  would  have  given  employ- 
ment to  the  persons  immediately  engaged  in  the 
manufactories,  and  would  have  made  life  easier 
to  those  outside  manufacturing  altogether:  to 
those  especially  who  were  engaged  in  cultivating 
the  soil. 

But  even  this  outlet  was  forbidden,  and  a  series 
of  laws  were  passed,  the  effect  and  the  deliberate 
object  of  which  were  to  kill  Irish  manufactures. 

The  attempts  of  England  to  interfere  with  Irish 
trade  were  made  in  two  directions,  namely, 
throuofh  leorislative  enactments  in  the  Enorlish 
Parliament,  and  through  the  sinister  influence  of 
England  over  a  too  servile  Irish  Parliament. 
Looking  at  the  relative  commercial   positions  of 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  1^3 

England  and  Ireland  at  the  present  day,  we  are 
apt  to  overlook  the  fact  that  they  were  considered 
on  terms  of  greater  natural  equality  in  past  years, 
and  that  any  advantage  was  rather  on  the  side  of 
the  now  poorer  country. 

England  had  always  been  jealous  of  the  least 
prospect  of  Irish  prosperity  ;  but  it  was  only  in  the 
reign  of  Charles  II.  that  any  direct  attempt  was 
made  to  interfere  with  her  growing  industries. 
Ireland  was,  as  of  old,  "  rich  in  cattle  ;  "  and  at  this 
time  had  a  large  cattle-trade  with  England.  Acts 
were  passed  in  1660-3  prohibiting  all  exports 
from  Ireland  to  the  colonies,  also  prohibiting  the 
importation  into  England  of  Irish  cattle,  declaring 
the  latter  to  be  "a  publick  nuisance;"  likewise 
forbidding  the  importation  of  Irish  sheep,  beef, 
pork,  and,  later  on,  of  butter  and  cheese.  Ire- 
land was  also  omitted  from  the  "  Navigation 
Act,"  in  consequence  of  which  no  goods  could 
thenceforward  be  carried  in  Irish-built  ships  under 
penalty  of  forfeiture  of  ship  and  cargo. 

The  result  of  these  acts  was  to  destroy  the 
shipping  trade  of  the  coun*try  at  a  blow,  and  to  so 
reduce  the  value  of  cattle  in  Ireland  that  "  horses 
which  used  to  fetch  thirty  shillings  each  were  sold 
for  dog's  meat  at  twelve  pence  each,  and  beeves 
that  before  brought  fifty  shillings  were  sold  for 
ten." 

Unable  to  make  a  profit  from  growing  cattle, 
the  Irish  turned  their  pastures  into  sheepwalks, 


1^4  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

and  set  to  work  to  improve  their  woollen  manu- 
factures with  such  success  that  the  anger  and 
jealousy  of  English  traders  were  once  more  ex- 
cited, and  the  ruin  of  this  trade  also  was  decided 
on.  An  address  was  presented  in  1698  by  both 
English  Houses  of  Parliament  to  William  III., 
complaining  of  the  injury  done  to  the  English 
woollen  trade  by  the  growth  of  that  trade  in  Ire- 
land, recommending  its  discouragement,  and  the 
encouragement,  in  lieu  thereof,  of  the  linen  trade, 
to  w^hich  both  Houses  promised  their  utmost 
assistance.  To  this  address  His  Majesty  vouch- 
safed the  following  gracious  reply :  "  I  shall  do 
all  that  in  me  lies  to  discourage  the  woollen  man- 
facture  in  Ireland,  and  encourage  the  linen  man- 
ufacture there,  and  to  promote  the  trade  of 
England." 

In  view  of  promises  of  encouragement  of  the 
linen  trade,  the  Irish  Parliament,  moved  on  by 
the  King's  Irish  ministers,  placed  forthwith  a  pro- 
hibitive duty  on  all  flannels,  serges,  and  such  like 
woollen  stuffs ;  but,  not  content  with  this,  the 
English  Parliament  passed  an  act  prohibiting  the 
export  of  Irish  wool  or  woollen  goods  to  any  port 
in  the  world,  except  a  few  English  ports,  and  for- 
bidding its  shipment  from  any  but  five  or  six  ports 
in  Ireland. 

It  might  have  been  expected  that  the  promise 
to  promote  Irish  linen  industry  would  have  been 
honorably  kept.     But  the  promise  was  distinctly 


THE  GREAT  IRISH  STRUGGLE.  I65 

violated.  The  importation  of  foreign  linens  into 
the  kingdom  was  encouraged,  and  a  disabling 
duty  was  laid  on  Irish  sail-cloth,  in  which  branch 
of  the  linen  trade  Ireland  had  prospered  so  much 
as  to  supply  sails  for  the  whole  British  navy. 

It  was,  however,  not  only  in  these  large  indus- 
tries that  the  infatuated  jealousy  of  England  was 
felt ;  such  smaller  matters  as  the  Irish  trade  in 
glass,  cotton,  beer,  and  malt  being  struck  at  by 
heavy  prohibitive  duties.  "  England,"  says  Froude, 
writing  of  these  laws,  "  governed  Ireland  for  her 
own  interests  ...  as  if  riorht  and  wronof  had 
been  blotted  out  of  the  statute  book  of  the  uni- 
verse." 

The  general  result  of  these  successive  blows  at 
nascent  Irish  industries  was  most  disastrous.  The 
mischief  was  dealt,  not  so  much  on  the  crushed 
Celtic  race,  as  on  the  wealthy  citizens  of  the  towns 
and  seaports,  English-descended,  and  the  main- 
stay of  English  ascendancy.  The  destruction  of 
the  woollen  and  linen  trades  fell  most  severely  on 
the  Protestants,  and  in  fifty  years  as  many  as 
200,000  persons  left  the  country  for  North 
America,  where  they  afterwards  formed  the  back- 
bone of  resistance  to  England  in  the  War  of  Inde- 
pendence. 

We  conclude  by  summarizing  this  sad  relation 
of  facts  in  the  words  of  Lord  Dufferin : 

"  From  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign  until  within  a 

few  years  of  the  Union,  the  various  commercial 
10 


166  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

confraternities  of  Great  Britain  never  for  a  mo- 
ment relaxed  their  relentless  grip  on  the  trades 
of  Ireland.  One  by  one  each  of  our  nascent  in- 
dustries was  either  strangled  in  its  birth  or 
bound  to  the  jealous  custody  of  the  rival  interest 
in  England,  until  at  last  every  fountain  of  wealth 
was  hermetically  sealed,  and  even  the  traditions 
of  commercial  enterprise  have  perished  through 
desuetude.  What  has  been  the  consequence  of 
such  a  system,  pursued  with  relentless  pertinacity 
for  over  250  years?  This:  that,  debarred  from 
every  other  trade  and  industry,  the  entire  nation 
flunpf  itself  back  on  'the  land''  with  as  fatal  an  im- 
pulse  as  when  a  river  whose  current  is  suddenly 
impeded  rolls  back  and  drowns  the  valley  it  once 
fertilized."* 

"  The  entire  nation  flunof  itself  back  on  the 
land,"  with  the  result  that  the  tenants  were  placed 
at  the  absolute  mercy  of  the  landlords.  Deprived 
of  every  other  form  of  making  a  livelihood,  the 
possession  of  land  meant  the  chance  of  life ;  the 
want  of  land,  the  certainty  of  death.  With  such 
a  population  craving  for  land  as  hope,  food,  life, 
the  landlord  was  in  a  position  as  supreme  as  the 
armed  keeper  of  the  stores  might  be  with  the 
famished  victims  of  a  shipwreck  on  a  raft  in  the 
middle  of  the  ocean :  and  most  cruelly  did  the 
landlord  use  the  omnipotence  which  British  laws 

*  "  Insh  Emigration,  and  the  Tenure  of  Land  in  Ireland." 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE  ]67 

had  thus  placed  in  his  hands.  The  pictures  of 
Irish  life  in  the  eighteenth  century  are  drawn,  as 
those  of  the  preceding  centuries,  mainly  by  Eng- 
lish and  Protestant  hands;  and  they  give  pictures 
almost  as  horrible  of  the  manner  in  which  a  nation 
can  be  murdered.  Rack-renting  and  eviction 
and  robbery  by  act  of  Parliament  had  been  sub- 
stituted for  massacre  by  the  sword,  but  the  re- 
sults remained  the  same :  the  people  were  de- 
stroyed. Above  all,  one  great  weapon  of  the 
days  of  the  gentle  and  poetic  Spenser  and  of  the 
pious  Cromwell  still  remained.  Famine  was  at 
once  a  means  and  a  result. 

English  writers  of  the  eighteenth  century  teem 
with  denunciations  of  the  rack-renting  and  the 
other  cruelties  inflicted  by  landlords  upon  the 
tenants.  Bishop  Berkeley  describes  the  landlords 
as  "  men  of  vulturine  beaks  and  bowels  of  iron.'' 
Swift, writing  about  1724,  said:  "These  cruel  land- 
lords are  every  day  unpeopling  the  kingdom,  for- 
biddinor  their  miserable  tenants  to  till  the  earth, 
against  common  reason  and  justice,  and  contrary 
to  the  practice  and  prudence  of  all  other  nations, 
by  which  numberless  families  have  been  forced  to 
leave  the  kingdom,  or  stroll  about  and  increase 
the  number  of  our  thieves  and  beggars.  .  .  .  The 
miserable  dress  and  diet  and  dwellings  of  the  peo- 
ple ;  the  general  desolation  in  most  parts  of  the 
kingdom  ;  the  old  seats  of  the  nobility  and  gentry 
all  in  ruins,  and  no  new  ones  in  their  stead ;  the 


J  (5;^  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

families  of  farmers,  who  pay  great  rents,  living  in 
filth  and  nastiness,  upon  buttermilk  and  potatoes, 
without  a  shoe  or  stocking  to  their  feet,  or  a  house 
so  convenient  as  an  English  hogsty  to  receive 
them — these,  indeed,  may  be  comfortable  sights 
to  an  English  spectator,  who  comes  for  a  short 
time  only  to  learn  the  language,  and  returns  back 
to  his  own  country,  whither  he  finds  all  our  wealth 
transmitted.  .  .  .  Nost7'a  miseria  mag7ta  est.  There 
is  not  one  argument  used  to  prove  the  riches  of 
Ireland  which  is  not  a  logical  demonstration  of  its 
poverty.  .  .  .  The  rise  of  our  rents  is  squeezed  out 
of  the  very  blood  and  vitals  and  clothes  and  dwell- 
ings of,  the  tenants,  who  live  worse  than  English 
beggars.  ...  *  Ye  are  idle,  ye  are  idle,'  answered 
Pharaoh  to  the  Israelites,  when  they  complained 
to  His  Majesty  that  they  were  forced  to  make 
bricks  without  straw."  It  was  the  sight  of  mis- 
eries such  as  these  that  suggested  to  Swift  his 
most  savage  and  most  terrible  satire.  It  is  worth 
while  giving  an  extract  from  his  "  Modest  Pro- 
posal for  Preventing  the  Children  of  the  Poor 
from  being  a  Burden  to  their  Parents."  It  is  a 
most  eloquent  picture  of  Ireland  in  those  days  : 

"The  number  of  souls,"  he  writes,  "in  this 
kingdom  being  usually  reckoned  one  million  and 
ahalf,  of  these  I  calculate  there  maybe  about  two 
hundred  thousand  couple  whose  wives  are 
breeders  ;  from  which  number  I  subtract  thirty 
thousand  couple  who  are  able  to  maintain  their 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  IQQ 

own  children  (although  I  apprehend  there  cannot 
be  so  many  under  the-  present  distresses  of  the 
kingdom).  .  .  .  The  question,  therefore,  is  how 
this  number  (one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand 
children  annually  born)  shall  be  reared  and  pro- 
vided for? — which,  as  I  have  already  said,  under 
the  present  situation  of  affairs,  is  utterly  impos- 
sible by  all  the  methods  hitherto  proposed.  .  .  . 
I  do  therefore  offer  it  to  the  publick  consideration, 
that,  of  the  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  chil- 
dren already  computed,  twenty  thousand  may  be 
reserved  for  breed.  .  .  .  That  the  remaining  one 
hundred  thousand  may,  at  a  year  old,  be  offered 
in  sale  to  persons  of  quality  and  fortune  through 
the  kingdom,  always  advising  the  mother  to  let 
them  suck  plentifully  in  the  last  month,  so  as  to 
render  them  plump  and  fat  for  a  good  table.  .  .  , 
I  have  reckoned,  upon  a  medium,  that  a  child  just 
born  will  weigh  twelve  pounds,  and,  in  a  solar 
year,  if  tolerably  nursed,  will  increase  to  twenty- 
eight  pounds.  I  grant  this  food  will  be  somewhat 
dear,  and,  therefore,  very  proper  for  landlords, 
who,  as  they  have  already  devoured  most  of  the 
parents,  have  the  best  title  to  the  children."  After 
dilating  on  the  succulent  properties  of  infant  flesh 
for  nurses:  "I  have  already  computed  the  charge 
of  nursing  a  beggar's  child  (In  which  list  I  reckon 
all  cottagers,  laborers,  and  four-fifths  of  the  farm- 
ers) to  be  about  two  shillings  per  annum,  rags 
included ;  and  I  believe  no  gendeman  would  re- 


X70  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

pine  to  give  ten  shillings  for  the  carcass  of  a  good 
fat  child,  which,  I  have  said,  will  make  four  dishes 
of  excellent,  nutritive  meat,  when   he    has  only 
some  particular  friend  or  his  own  family  to  dine 
with   him.     Thus  the    squire  will  learn  to  be  a 
good   landlord    and    grow    popular    among    the 
tenants ;  the  mother  will  have  eight  shillings  neat 
profit,  and  be  fit  for  work  till  she  produces  an- 
other child."     He  then   suggests  to  the  "  more 
thrifty  (such  as  the  times  require)  to  flay  the  car- 
cass, the  skin  of  which,  artificially  dressed,  would 
make  admirable  gloves  for  ladies,  and  summer 
boots  for  fine  gentlemen  ;  "  "  the  establishment  of 
shambles,  butchers  being  sure  not  to  be  wanting," 
and  the  "  buying  the  children  alive,  and  dressing 
them  hot  from  the  knife  as  we  do  roasting  pigs." 
Having  thus  disposed  of  the  infants,  he  came  to 
the  grown-up   portion  of  the  "  beggars,"  and  at 
the  suggestion  of  "a  very  worthy  person,  a  true 
lover  of  his  country,"  recommends  that  "the  u^ant 
of  venison  might  be  well  supplied  by  the  bodies 
of  young  lads  and  maidens,  not  exceeding  four- 
teen years,  nor  under  twelve — so  great  a  number 
of  both   sexes  being    ready  to    starve    in  every 
county  for  want  of  work  and  service.  .  .  .  Neither, 
indeed,  could  he  deny  that  if  the  same  use  \vere 
made  of  several  plump,  young  girls  in  this  town 
[Dublin],  Avho,  without  one  single  groat  to  their 
fortunes,  cannot  stir  abroad  without  a  chair,  and 
appear  at  a  play-house  and  assemblies  in  foreign 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  171 

fineries  which  they  never  will  pay  for,  the  king- 
dom would  not  be  the  worse."  And  lastly,  as  to 
"  these  vast  number  of  poor  people  who  are  aged, 
diseased,  and  maimed,"  he  was  "  not  in  the  least 
pained  upon  that  matter,  because  it  was  very  well 
known  that  they  were  every  day  dying  and  rot- 
ting by  cold,  famine,  and  filth,  and  vermin,  as  fast 
as  could  be  reasonably  expected," 

"Such,"  comments  Healy,  in  his  "Word  for 
Ireland,"  "  is  the  picture  of  Irish  wretchedness 
when  our  population  was  only  one  million  and  a 
half,  and  before  the  phrase  '  congested  districts ' 
was  invented." 

The  result  of  this  state  of  thingrs  was  that  semi- 
starvation  was  chronic  throughout  Ireland  and 
absolute  famine  periodic.  In  1 725— '26-'27-'28 
there  were  bad  harvests ;  and  in  1 739  there  was 
severe  frost.  In  every  one  of  these  cases  there  was 
famine.  In  1739  there  was  a  prolonged  frost,  with 
the  result  that  in  1 74o-'4i  there  was  one  of  the 
most  severe  famines  in  Irish  history.  This  was 
the  first  occasion  on  which  was  observed  the 
phenomenon  that,  as  will  be  seen  afterwards,  has 
played  a  terrible  and  important  part  in  Irish  life. 
The  frost  brought  on  potato-rot,  and  the  potato- 
rot  brought  on  universal  famine.  There  are 
plenty  of  contemporaneous  records  of  the  suffer- 
ing which  this  created.  "Want  and  misery  in 
every  face,  the  rich  unable  to  relieve  the  poor,  the 
roads  spread  with  dead  and  dying ;  mankind  of 


172  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

the  color  of  the  weeds  and  nettles  on  which  they 
feed ;  two  or  three,  sometimes  more,  on  a  car, 
going  to  the  grave,  for  the  want  of  bearers  to 
carry  them,  and  many  buried  only  in  the  fields  and 
ditches  v/here  they  perished.  Fluxes  and  malig- 
nant fevers  swept  off  multitudes  of  all  sorts,  so 
that  whole  villaores  were  laid  waste.  If  one  for 
every  house  in  the  kingdom  died,  and  that  is  very 
probable,  the  loss  must  be  upwards  of  400,000 
souls.  This  is  the  third  famine  I  have  seen  in 
twenty  years,  and  the  severest ;  these  calamities 
arise  from  the  want  of  proper  tillage  laws  to  pro- 
tect the  husbandmen."  "  I  have  seen,"  says  Bishop 
Barclay,  "the  laborer  endeavoring  to  work  at  his 
spade,  but  fainting  for  the  want  of  food,  and 
forced  to  quit  it.  I  have  seen  the  aged  father  eat- 
ing grass  like  a  beast,  and  in  the  anguish  of  his 
soul  wishinor  for  his  dissolution.  I  have  seen  the 
helpless  orphan  exposed  on  the  dunghill,  and 
none  to  take  him  in  for  fear  of  infection  ;  and  I 
have  seen  the  hungry  infant  sucking  at  the  breast 
of  the  already  expired  parent." 

"  I  am  well  acquainted,"  said  Fitzgibbon  in  the 
Irish  House  of  Commons,  in  17S7 — a  man  who 
will  reappear  as  one  of  the  most  violent  sup- 
porters of  British  rule  in  Ireland — "  with  the  prov- 
ince of  Munster,  and  I  know  that  it  is  ilnpossible 
for  human  wretchedness  to  exceed  that  of  the 
miserable  peasantry  of  that  province.  I  know 
that  the  unhappy  tenantry  are  ground  to  powder 


EVICTED— HOMKI.ESS. 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE  175 

by  relentless  landlords.  I  know  that  far  from 
being  able  to  give  the  clergy  their  just  dues 
[Protestant  tithes],  they  have  not  food  or  raiment 
for  themselves ;  the  landlord  grasps  the  whole. 
The  poor  people  of  Munster  live  in  a  more  abject 
state  of  poverty  than  human  nature  can  be  sup- 
posed able  to  bear ;  their  miseries  are  intoler- 
able." 

These  sufferings  led  to  reprisals  on  the  part  of 
the  tenants ;  and  from  this  period  there  dates  the 
rising  of  the  organizations  which  gave  back  assas- 
sinations in  answer  to  rack-rents  and  eviction. 
"White  Boys,"  "White  Feet,"  "  Peep-of-Day  Boys," 
"  Hearts  of  Steel" — these  are  among  the  many 
designations  which  these  bodies  were  called  by. 
They  were  sometimes  founded  by  Catholics  and 
sometimes  by  Protestants.  The  "  Hearts  of  Steel," 
for  instance,  were  all  Protestants,  who  rose 
against  the  exactions  on  the  estates  of  Lord 
Doneeal.  The  Irish  Parliament  answered  the  ex- 
cesses  of  the  tenants  by  laws  the  savagery  of 
which  can  scarcely  be  understood  at  this  day. 
Death  became  a  penalty  for  the  most  trivial 
offence,  and  every  assize  was  followed  by  num- 
bers of  executions.  This,  then,  was  the  condition 
to  which  British  law,  confiscations,  and  the  land 
system  had  brought  the  Irish  nation. 

The  vast  majority  of  the  natives  were  in  a  state 
of  beggary  and  starvation.  The  land  was  over- 
run ;  manufactures  were  dead ;  between  the  land- 


176  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

lords  and  the  tenants  there  raged  civil  war.  All 
these  phenomena  will  unfortunately  reappear  in 
the  earlier  part  of  th'^  present  century.  For  the 
present  we  have  to  pause  to  describe  a  brilliant 
but  too  brief  interval  in  the  tale  of  monotonous 
gloom.  We  have  to  tell  the  story  of  the  Irish 
Parliament. 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE   STCRY   OF   THE    IRISH    PARLIAMENT. 

IT  will  not  be  necessary  for  the  purposes  of  this 
book  to  trace  the  history  of  the  Irish  Parlia- 
ment back  to  the  dim  ages  in  which  it  took  its 
origin.  It  will  suffice  for  our  purpose  to  start 
from  the  point  when  the  controversy  between  the 
demands  of  an  Irish  Parliament  for  supremacy  in 
Ireland  and  the  demands  of  the  English  Parlia- 
ment to  control  its  proceedings  came  to  be  a 
burning  question. 

The  first  great  enactment  which  limited  the 
power  of  the  Irish  Parliament  is  known  as  Poyn- 
ing's  Law.  This  was  passed  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VII.  The  Irish  had  taken  the  side  of  the 
Pretender  Perkin  Warbeck,  and  Sir  Edward 
Poyning  had  been  sent  over  by  the  King  to  put 
down  the  rebellion.  Poyning,  after  some  doubt- 
ful successes  in  the  field,  called  together  a  Parlia- 
ment in  Drogheda,  and  immediately  induced  it  to 
pass  a  series  of  severe  enactments  against  the 
native  Irish  and  those  English  who  had  taken  up 
their  side  and  their  habits.  It  has  been  seen  in 
a  preceding  chapter  how  efforts  had  been  made 


178  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

by  means  of  the  most  savage  laws  to  keep  up  the 
separation  between  the  two  races,  and  how,  in 
spite  of  these  things,  the  two  races  had  com-' 
bined  and  had  gradually  melted  in  spite  of  their 
different  origins  into  one  common  nationality. 
In  a  Parliament  which  had  met  in  the  city  of  Kil- 
kenny in  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  the  act  known 
as  the  Statute  of  Kilkenny  had  been  passed,  by 
which  it  had  been  made  high  treason  to  bring  up, 
marry  with,  foster  or  stand  sponsor  to  a  Celtic 
native  of  Ireland.  It  was  also  enacted  that  any 
Englishman  who  should  dress  himself  after  the 
fashion  of  the  Irish  people,  adopt  an  Irish  name, 
speak  the  Gaelic  tongue,  wear  a  moustache,  as 
was  the  custom  in  Ireland,  or  ride  without  a  sad- 
dle, as  was  also  an  Irish  custom,  had  his  property 
confiscated  or  was  imprisoned  for  life  if  he  was 
poor. 

Poyning's  Parliament  confirmed  the  Statute  of 
Kilkenny,  with  important  modifications  made 
necessary  by  the  failure  of  the  previous  enact- 
ment. For  instance,  the  portions  of  the  Statute 
of  Kilkenny  were  omitted  which  prohibited  the 
use  of  the  Irish  language,  for  by  this  time  that 
language  had  become  common  even  in  the  Eng- 
lish pale,  and  the  custom  of  riding  without  a  sad- 
dle had  also  become  so  general  that  it  was 
deemed  hopeless  to  try  to  prevent  it.  The  im- 
portant business,  however,  done  by  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Drogheda  was  the  passing  of  an  act 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  I79 

which  made  two  memorable  and  fatal  laws. 
First,  no  Parliament  was  in  future  to  be  held  in 
Ireland  "until  the  chief  governor  and  council  had 
certified  to  the  King,  under  the  Great  Seal,  as 
well  the  causes  and  considerations  as  the  acts 
they  designed  to  pass,  and  till  the  same  should  be 
approved  by  the  King  and  Council."  The  effect 
of  this  act  was  that  when  any  bill  was  passed  by 
the  Irish  Parliament,  it  had  to  be  approved  by  the 
English  Privy  Council,  and  the  act  had  to  be  for- 
warded to  England  for  the  purpose  of  receiving 
their  sanction  or  disapproval.  Often  bills  were 
returned  by  the  Privy  Council  completely  di- 
vested of  their  original  meaning.  On  being  re- 
turned to  the  Irish  House  of  Commons  no  further 
alteration  in  the  bill  was  permitted. 

The  effect  of  this  disastrous  act  was  to  deprive 
the  Irish  Parliament  of  any  real  power ;  the  au- 
thority given  to  the  English  Parliament  was  fre- 
quently and  scandalously  used,  and  prevented  the 
application  to  Ireland  of  any  of  that  broadening 
of  popular  liberties  which  had  become  apparent 
in  England.  For  a  considerable  period  the  Eng- 
lish settlers  in  Ireland  raised  some  objection  to 
this  degradation  of  their  Parliament — for  it  was 
their  own  Parliament — but  in  later  years  they 
fully  accepted  it.  It  was  made  up  of  men  of  their 
creed  and  race.  The  Parliament  was  deemed  by 
them  to  serve  a  useful  purpose,  because  it  was 
through  the  decrees  of  that  body  they  were  able 


180  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

to  finish  by  chicanery  the  transfer  of  the  soil  that 
had  been  begun  by  the  sword.  The  Irish  Padia- 
ment  was  employed  to  pass  acts  of  attainder  and 
forfeiture  by  which  the  estates  of  the  Catholic 
Irish  landlords  were  handed  over  to  the  English 
Protestant  settlers,  to  confirm  the  defective  titles 
that  had  been  won  on  the  field  or  in  the  law 
courts,  and  finally  to  pass  the  penal  code  by  which 
the  Catholics  were  excluded  from  the  ownership 
of  property  and  all  possible  share  in  the  govern- 
ment of  their  country. 

But  as  time  went  on,  the  Irish  Protestants 
found  that  the  authority  of  the  English  Parliament 
was  intended  for  use  against  all  men  of  Irish 
birth  whatever  their  creed  or  their  original  de- 
scent. The  great  positions  of  the  country — the 
judgeships,  the  bishoprics,  the  places  in  the  House 
of  Peers  and  the  House  of  Commons,  the  com- 
mands in  the  army  and  the  navy,  and  all  the  high 
offices  of  state,  were,  in  most  cases,  conferred  on 
Englishmen.  Englishmen  were  the  "  fathers  in 
God  "  of  dioceses  that  they  never  saw ;  sate  for 
constituencies  which  they  had  never  cast  eyes 
upon  ;  drew  the  salaries  of  offices  in  which  they 
had  never  done  a  day's  work;  and  outside  all 
these  ereat  things  stood  shiverinor  the  Irish  Prot- 
estants  of  English  blood,  naked  and  scorned. 
Meantime,  the  poverty  of  the  country  became 
daily  deeper;  the  exaction  of  rent  grew  more 
difficult ;  the  kingdom  was  infested  with  bands  of 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  181 

wandering  beggars ;  and  gentlemen  of  tide,  long 
descent  and  of  ancestral  homes   sharing  in  the 
general  ruin,  found  the  refusal  of  all  positions  a 
serious  aeofravation  of  their  misfortunes.     In  the 
days  of  Dean  Swift  the  government  of  Ireland 
was  almost  entirely  in   the  hands  of  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Armagh,  Primate   Boulter.     The  cor- 
respondence of  this  prelate  survives,  and  through 
it  we  are  enabled  to  get  many  valuable  glimpses 
of  what  the  government  of  Ireland  meant  in  his 
days.     "  Boulter,"  writes  Lecky,  in  "  Leaders  of 
Public  Opinion  in  Ireland,"  "  was  an  honest  but 
narrow  man,  extremely  charitable  to   the  poor, 
and  liberal  to  the,  extent  of  warmly  advocating 
the  endowment  of  the  Presbyterian  clergy;  but 
he  was  a  strenuous  supporter  of  the  Penal  Code, 
and  the  main  object  of  his  policy  was  to  prevent 
the  rise  of  an  Irish  party.     His  letters  are  chiefly 
on  questions  of  money  and  patronage,  and  it  is 
curious  to  observe  how  entirely  all  religious  mo- 
tives appear  to  have  been  absent  from  his  mind 
in  his  innumerable  recommendations  for  church 
dignities.     Personal    claims,    and    above    all    the 
fitness  of  the  candidate  to  carry  out  the  English 
policy,  seem  to  have  been  in  these  cases  the  only 
elements  considered.     His  uniform  policy  was  to 
divide  the  Irish  Catholics  and  the  Irish   Protes- 
tants, to  crush  the  former  by  disabling  laws,  to 
destroy  the  independence  of  the  latter  by  con- 
ferring the   most  lucrative  and  influential  posts 


182  GLADSTONE— PARN  ELL 

upon  Englishmen,  and  thus  to  make  all  Irish  in- 
terests strictly  subservient  to  those  of  England. 
The  continual  burden  of  his  letters  is  the  neces- 
sity of  sending  over  Englishmen  to  fill  important 
Irish  posts.  "  The  only  way  to  keep  things  quiet 
here,"  he  writes,  "and  make  them  easy  to  the 
Ministry  is  by  filling  the  great  places  with  natives 
of  England."  He  complains  bitterly  that  only 
nine  of  the  twenty-two  Irish  bishops  were  Eng- 
lishmen, and  urges  the  Ministers  "  gradually  to 
get  as  many  English  on  the  Bench  here  as  can 
decently  be  sent  hither."  On  the  death  of  the 
Chancellor,  writing  to  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  he 
speaks  of  "the  uneasiness- we  are  gnder  at  the 
report  that  a  native  of  this  place  is  like  to  be 
made  Lord  Chancellor."  "  I  must  request  of 
your  Grace,"  he  adds,  "that  you  would  use  your 
influence  to  have  none  but  Englishmen  put  into 
the  great  places  here  for  the  future." 

When  a  vacancy  in  the  See  of  Dublin  was 
likely  to  occur  he  writes :  "I  am  entirely  of  opinion 
that  the  new  archbishop  ought  to  be  an  English- 
man either  already  on  the  bench  here  or  in  Eng- 
land. As  for  a  native  of  this  country  I  can  hardly 
doubt  that,  whatever  his  behavior  has  been  and 
his  promises  may  be,  when  he  is  once  in  that  sta- 
tion he  will  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  Irish 
interest  in  the  church  at  least,  and  he  will  natur 
ally  carry  with  him  the  college  and  most  of  the 
clergy  here." 


THE   GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  133 

Up  to  this  time  the  protests  against  the  degra- 
dation of  the  Irish  Parliament  had  been  confined 
to  the  native  Irish.  In  a  famous  assemblage, 
known  as  the  Confederation  of  Kilkenny,  the 
claim  of  the  Irish  Parliament  to  the  exclusive 
power  to  make  laws  for  Ireland  had  been  asserted ; 
and  it  was  laid  down  with  even  more  emphasis  in 
a  Parliament  called  together  by  James  II.  during 
his  war  with  William  III.  It  was  not  till  1698 
that  the  first  Protestant  voice  was  raised  in  em- 
phatic protest.  The  author  of  this  protest  was 
Molyneux — one  of  the  members  for  Trinity  Col- 
lege;  Molyneux  was,  of  course,  a  Protestant;  no- 
body but  a  Protestant  at  the  time  had  a  seat  in 
the  Parliament.  He  was  a  man  of  great  learning 
and  ability ;  of  which  among  many  other  proofs  is 
the  fact  that  he  was  the  "  ingrenious  friend"  to 
"whom  Locke  dedicated  his  immortal  essay.  Moly- 
neux in  his  book,  "The  Case  of  Ireland  Stated," 
laid  down  the  claim  of  the  Irish  Parliament  in 
clear  and  unmistakable  language.  He  had  been 
induced  to  this  train  of  thought  by  the  infamous 
laws  which  had  destroyed  the  woollen  trade  of 
Ireland,  and  in  destroying  that  trade  had  terribly 
aggravated  the  miseries  of  the  unhappy  nation. 
The  book  was  written  in  moderate  and  decorous 
language ;  but  it  was  too  strong  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  day ;  the  English  Parliament  decreed 
that  it  was  dangerous,  and  that   accordingly  it 

should  be  burned  by  the  common  hangman. 
11 


184  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

But  the  spirit  which  Molyneux  aroused  was 
immortal,  and  indeed  lies  at  the  root  of  the  Na^ 
tional  movement  of  to-day.  There  soon  came, 
too,  an  event  which  was  destined  to  aggravate 
the  feelino-s  of  resentment  which  had  been  created 
by  the  restrictions  on  trade  and  by  the  rigid  ex- 
clusion of  the  Irish  gentry  from  all  offices  of  pay 
and  power. 

In  the  year  1719  Hester  H.  Sherlock  brought 
an  action  against  Maurice  Annesley  in  reference 
to  some  property  in  the  county  of  Kildare.  The 
case  was  tried  before  the  Irish  Court  of  Ex- 
chequer, which  decided  in  favor  of  Maurice  An- 
nesley, the  respondent  in  the  case.  Hester  Sher- 
lock brought  the  case  on  appeal  to  the  Irish 
House  of  Peers,  and  they  reversed  the  judgment 
of  the  Court  of  Exchequer.  Annesley  then  took 
the  case  to  the  English  House,  of  Peers,  and  they 
reversed  the  decision  of  the  Irish  Peers  and  con- 
firmed that  of  the  Irish  Court  of  Exchequer. 
This  was  regarded  throughout  Ireland  as  a  gross 
infringement  of  the  rights  of  the  Irish  Parliament. 
The  Sheriff  of  Kildare  acted  upon  the  general 
opinion  and  recognized  only  the  decision  of  the 
Irish  House  of  Peers.  He  declined  to  obey  the 
decree  both  of  the  Irish  Court  of  Exchequer  and 
the  English  House  of  Lords,  and  refused  to  com- 
ply with  an  order  for  placing  Annesley  in  posses- 
sion of  the  property.  The  Court  of  Exchequer 
thereupon  inflicted  a  fine  upon  the  sheriff.     The 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE  185 

Irish  House  of  Lords  removed  the  fine  and  passed 
a  resolution  declaring  that  the  sheriff  had  be- 
ha.V8d  with  integrity  and  courage. 

The  English  Parllamentwas  not  slow  to  respond 
to  this  open  defiance  of  its  authority,  and  it  passed 
llie  famous  law  known  as  the  Vlth  of  George  I. 
The  following  extract  will  show  what  this  law  is : 
"Whereas,  .  .  .  the  lords  of  Ireland  have  of  late^ 
against  law,  assumed  to  themselves  a  power  and 
a  jurisdiction  to  examine  and  amend  the  judg- 
ments and  decrees  of  the  courts  of  justice  in  Ire- 
land ;  therefore,  ...  it  is  declared  and  enacted 
.  .  .  that  the  King's  Majesty,  by  and  with  the  ad- 
vice and  consent  of  the  lords  spiritual  and  tempo- 
ral and  Commons  of  Great  Britain  in  Parliament 
assembled,  had,  hath,  and  of  right  ought  to  have, 
full  power  and  authority  to  make  laws  and  stat- 
utes of  sufficient  force  and  validity  to  bind  the 
people  of  the  kingdom  of  Ireland.  And  it  is  fur- 
ther enacted  and  declared  that  the  House  of 
Lords  of  Ireland  have  not,  nor  of  right  ought  to 
have,  any  jurisdiction  to  judge  of,  affirm,  or  re- 
verse, any  judgment  .  .  .  made  in  any  court  in 
the  said  kingdom." 

It  was  in  the  height  of  the  exasperation  caused 
by  arrogant  denial  of  the  rights  of  the  Irish  Par- 
liament that  there  came  into  Irish  affairs  one  of 
the  most  potent  influences  by  which  they  were 
ever  euided.  Dean  Swift  had  about  this  time  re- 
turned  to  Ireland,  as  he  said  himself,  "  like  a  rat 


186  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

dying  in  its  hole."  He  saw  all  around  him  the 
fearful  sufferings  of  the  people,  the  gross  injus- 
tice of  the  landlords,  the  cruel  harvest  which  the 
wicked  legislation  of  England  was  reaping  in 
barren  fields,  depopulated  villages,  and  crowded 
and  tumultuous  beggary.  It  was  then  he  began 
to  publish  that  series  of  pamphlets  on  the 
Irish  question  which  can  be  read  with  as  much 
profit  at  this  day  as  when  they  were  first  pub- 
lished. They  afford,  perhaps,  the  most  graphic 
and  telling  picture  of  a  nation's  misery  ever  pro- 
duced. An  accident  soon  enabled  him  to  bring 
the  growing  resentment  of  Ireland  into  direct  and 
successful  collision  with  Enorlish  authorities.  Sir 
Robert  Walpole,  an  English  Premier  of  the  time, 
gave  a  patent  to  a  man  named  Wood  for  the  pur- 
pose of  coining  /,S,ooo  in  half-pence.  The  im- 
pression to-day  is  that  the  copper  was  badly 
wanted ;  that  Wood's  half-pence  were  as  good  as 
those  already  existing,  and  that  the  Minister  had 
no  sinister  idea  of  debaslno^  the  coinao^e  of  the 
country.  "But,"  as  Lecky  remarks,  "there  were 
other  reasons  why  the  project  was  both  dangerous 
and  insultinof.  Though  the  measure  was  one 
profoundly  affecting  Irish  interests,  it  was  taken 
by  the  Ministers  without  consulting  the  Lord 
Lieutenant  or  Irish  Privy  Council,  or  the  Parlia- 
ment, or  any  one  in  the  country.  It  was  another 
and  a  signal  proof  that  Ireland  had  been  reduced 
to  complete   subservience    to    England,  and  the 


THE   GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  Igy 

patent  was  granted  to  a  private  individual  by  the 
influence  of  the  Duchess  of  Kendal,  the  mistress 
of  the  King,  and  on  the  stipulation  that  she  should 
receive  a  large  share  of  the  profits." 

Swift  published  a  number  of  letters  upon  the 
new  coin,  with  the  result  that   the  country  was 
roused  to  a  state  of  fury.     Both   Houses  of  the 
Irish    Parliament   passed   addresses    against   it ; 
grand  juries  of  Dublin  and  the  gentry  all  over  the 
country   condemned  it,  and   finally  it  had  to  be 
withdrawn  from  circulation.     The  indirect  effects 
of  this  were  more  important  than  the  mere  small 
point  of  whether  the  coin  was  genuine  or  base. 
Swift,  in  his    book,  laid  down   clearly  the  same 
doctrine  as    Molyneux  of  the  sole  right  of^  the 
Irish    Parliament  to   pass    measures  for  Ireland. 
He  was  a  loyal  subject  of  the  King,  he  declared, 
not  as   King  of  England,   but  King  of  Ireland. 
Ireland  was  a  free  nation,  which  implied  in  it  the 
power  of  self-legislation,  for  such  "  Government 
without  the  consent  of  the  governed  is  the  very 
definition    of    slavery,"    says    Swift;    a    maxim, 
by  the  way,  that  applies  as  much  to  the  case  of 
Ireland  to-day  as  to  the  case  of  Ireland  in  his 
days.     Thus  the  demands  of  Ireland  were  once 
more  put  forward  in  clear  terms  that  resounded 
all  over  the  country.     The  second  important  re- 
sult  was    the   union    between   the   much-divided 
classes  and  sections  of  the  Irish  nation,  which  this 
legislation  produced  for  almost  the  first  time.     "  I 


188  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

find,''  wrote  Primate  Boulter,  "  by  my  own  letters 
and  others'  enquiry,  that  the  people  of  every  reli- 
gion, country,  and  party,  here  are  alike  set 
against  Wood's  half-pence,  and  that  their  agree- 
ment in  this  has  had  a  very  unhappy  influence  on 
the  state  of  this  nation,  by  bringing  on  intimacies 
between  Papists  and  Jacobites  and  the  Whigs." 
The  third  and  most  satisfactory  result  of  all  was 
that  it  marked  the  first  peaceful  triumph  of  Ire- 
land over  English  interference.  "There  is,"  says 
Lecky,  "no  more  momentous  epoch  in  the  his- 
tory of  a  nation  than  that  in  which  the  voice  of  the 
people  has  first  spoken,  and  spoken  with  success. 
It  marks  the  transition  from  an  age  of  semi-bar- 
barism to  an  age  of  civilization — from  the  govern- 
ment of  force  to  the  government  of  opinion. 
Before  this  time  rebellion  was  the  natural  issue 
of  every  patriotic  effort  in  Ireland.  Since  then 
rebellion  has  been  an  anachronism  and  a  mistake. 
The  age  of  Desmond  and  of  O'Neill  had  passed. 
The  age  of  Grattan  and  of  O'Connell  had 
beo^un." 

It  was  these  various  causes  that  produced  the 
rise  in  the  Irish  Parliament  of  the  historic  body 
of  men  known  as  the  patriot  party.  When  first 
these  champions  of  Irish  rights  started  out  on 
their  enterprise  never  did  difficulties  appear  more 
gigantic,  never  task  more  hopeless.  By  various 
methods  both  Houses  of  Parliament  had  been 
reduced  to  a  state  of  corruption  and  of  subservi- 


THE  LATE  -MR.    HENRY  GRATTAN,   M.  P. 


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THE  GREAT  IRISH   STPs-UGGLE  191 

ency  perhaps  unequalled  in  the  annals  of  legisla- 
tive assemblies. 

The  Catholics  had  no  share  whatever  in  the 
election  of  the  Parliament,  and  even  the  Protes- 
tant minority  was  practically  excluded  from  any 
real  control.  The  plan  of  the  English  kings  had 
been,  in  general,  to  make  no  increase  whatever  in 
the  number  of  county  constituencies;  all  new 
members  were  given  to  the  boroughs.  In  some 
cases  the  new  boroughs  might  be  described  as 
non-existent;  others  consisted  of  but  a  few 
houses  and  inhabitants.  The  Stuarts  had  been 
the  most  shameless  in  this  manufacture  of  unin- 
habited boroughs.  James  I.  summoned  a  Parlia- 
ment in  1 613.  There  being  about  one  hundred 
Catholics  to  one  Protestant  in  Ireland  at  this 
time,  it  was  naturally  feared  that  there  would  be 
a  Catholic  majority  in  the  Parliament  (this  was 
before  the  Catholics  were  excluded),  and  imme- 
diate measures  were  taken  to  prevent  such  a  ma- 
jority from  being  elected.  Seventeen  new  coun- 
ties and  forty  boroughs  were  created  by  royal 
charter  in  places  thinly  or  not  at  all  inhabited, 
and  towns  as  yet  only  projected  on  the  estates  of 
the  leading  undertakers  were  named  as  boroughs. 
"  Forty  boroughs,"  quoth  the  King,  when  remon- 
strated with  ;  "  suppose  I  had  made  four  hundred 
— the  more  the  merrier."  There  was,  after  all, 
a  very  strong  Catholic  minority  in  the  lower 
House,  but  after  an  unseemly  dispute  about  the 


192  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Speakership  the  CathoHcs  left  the  House  in  a 
body. 

James  I.  passed  away,  and  left  his  throne  and 
some  of  his  propensities  to  his  son  Charles  before 
another  Parliament  met  in  Dublin,  in  1 634.  Straf- 
ford was  Lord  Deputy,  and  in  pursuance  of  his 
policy  of  "  Thorough,"  exerted  all  his  energies  to 
satisfy  his  master's  eager  requests  for  money. 
One  of  his  first  acts  was  to  summon  a  Parliament, 
in  which,  by  judicious  management,  the  propor- 
don  of  Catholics  was  reduced  from  nearly  one- 
half  to  one-third  of  the  assembly.  By  further 
official  manipulation  the  two  Houses  were  soon 
brought  into  a  condition  satisfactory  to  the  Lord 
Deputy.  The  House  of  Lords  consisted  of 
about  one  hundred  and  seventy-eight  temporal 
and  twenty-two  spiritual  peers.  Many  of  the 
temporal  peers  were  Scotchmen  and  Englishmen, 
having"  no  connection  whatsoever  with  the  coun- 
try,  and  having  never  seen  it  in  their  lives.  The 
Bishops,  nominees  of  the  Ministry,  were  alto- 
gether out  of  sympathy  with  the  people ;  half  of 
them  were  EneHshmen,  to  account  for  whose  con- 
duct  Swift  could  only  suggest  that  the  real  pre- 
lates sent  over  from  England  had  been  waylaid, 
robbed  and  stripped  outside  London  by  highway- 
men, who  now  masqueraded  in  their  clothes. 

The  lower  House  consisted  of  three  hundred 
members,  the  bulk  of  whom  were  nominees  of  the 
great  Protestant  land-owners,   members   of   the 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE  I93 

upper  House;  two  hundred  being  returnable  by 
single  individuals,  and  altogether  two-thirds  by 
less  than  a  hundred  persons,  who  openly  made 
large  sums  of  money  by  the  sale  of  seats.  Place- 
men and  pensioners  of  the  government  filled 
many  seats.  There  was  no  Ministry  responsible 
to  the  Parliament;  the  administration  consisted 
of  the  English  Viceroy  and  his  English  Secretary, 
nominees  of  the  English  government,  together 
with  a  Privy  Council,  over  none  of  whom  had  the 
Houses  any  control,  and  whose  chief  business  was 
the  carrying  of  measures  pleasing  to  their  mas- 
ters across  the  channel,  by  means  of  bribes,  of 
titles  and  places,  and  the  playing  off  of  the  differ- 
ent factions  against  each  other. 

The  patriot  party  of  later  days,  headed  by 
men  like  Flood,  Lucas,  Daly,  and  Burgh,  made, 
night  after  night,  persistent  attacks  along  the 
whole  line  of  monopoly  and  misgovernment — the 
law  of  Poyning,  the  Penal  Code,  the  absence  of 
an  Irish  Mutiny  Bill,  the  bloated  Pension  List,  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  British  Parliament. 

The  government,  harassed  and  perplexed,  tried 
their  old  arts  of  seduction,  but  with  only  trifling 
success.  The  weakest  of  the  patriots  were  bought 
over,  but  the  remainder  closed  up  their  ranks  and 
came  on  again  to  the  assault.  The  first  victory 
achieved  by  them  was  to  obtain,  in  1 768,  the  pass- 
ing of  a  bill  limiting  to  seven  years  the  duration 
of  Parliament,  which  hitherto  lasted  during  an  en- 


194  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

tire  reign,  an  act  which  Lecky  describes  as  having 
laid  "the  foundation  of  parhamentary  influence 
and  independence  in  Ireland."  To  the  first 
House  of  Commons  elected  under  this  act,  the 
patriots  were  returned  in  greater  force  than  be- 
fore, and  soon  to  their  ranks  was  added  the 
power,  the  genius,  the  eloquence,  and  the  enthu- 
siasm of  Henry  Grattan,  who  entered  Parliament 
in  1775  for  the  borough  of  Charlemont. 

The  next  year  the  revolt  in  the  North  Ameri- 
can colonies  broke  out,  and  England,  her  avail- 
able troops  being  employed  against  the  colonists, 
was  obliged  to  leave  Ireland  defenceless,  though 
American  privateers  and  French  men-of-war  were 
hovering  round  her  coasts.  The  Irish  applied  to 
the  English  authorities  for  soldiers  to  defend  Ire- 
land ;  the  authorities  declared  that  they  had  no 
troops  to  spare  for  Ireland.  The  Irish,  under  the 
circumstances,  felt  justified  in  taking  means  for 
their  own  defence.  Men  were  enrolled  rapidly 
all  over  the  country ;  before  long  no  less  than 
150,000  men  were  in  arms,  and  thus  arose  the 
body  known  as  the  Irish  Volunteers. 

Raised  originally  for  the  defence  of  Ireland 
against  the  enemies  of  England,  the  "Volunteers" 
naturally  turned  their  eyes  to  the  evils  of  their 
own  country.  The  position  of  England,  too,  at 
that  moment,  showed  that  the  hour  had  come 
when  Ireland  could  demand  her  rights,  with  a 
reasonable  chance  of  having  them  accepted.    The 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  195 

Volunteers  outside  Parliament  and  the  patriot 
party  inside  Parliament  then  devoted  themselves 
to  demanding  an  immediate  redress  of  all  their 
grievances.  It  is  characteristic  of  the  whole  his- 
tory of  Ireland  that  this  National  party  displayed 
the  highest  spirit  of  religious  toleration.  The 
volunteers  were  Protestant  to  a  man.  The  very 
first  thing  they  did  was  to  proclaim  the  right  of 
every  man  in  Ireland  to  the  free  exercise  of  his 
religion  and  to  his  due  share  of  political  rights 
altogether  apart  from  his  religious  persuasion. 
Towards  the  close  of  the  year  1781  the  officers 
of  the  First  Ulster  Regiment  of  Volunteers,  com- 
manded by  Lord  Charlemont,  resolved  to  hold  a 
convention  of  the  Ulster  Delegates  at  Dungan- 
non,  and  this  convention  assembled  in  the  church 
in  that  ancient  city  in  1782.  Then  "  the  repre- 
sentatives," writes  Mitchell,  "  of  the  regiments  of 
Ulster — one  hundred  and  forty-three  corps — 
marched  to  the  sacred  place  of  meeting,  two  and 
two,  dressed  in  various  uniforms,  and  fully  armed. 
Deeply  they  felt  the  great  responsibilities  which 
had  been  committed  to  their  prudence  and  cour- 
age ;  but  they  were  equal  to  their  task,  and  had 
not  lightly  pledged  their  faith  to  a  trustful  coun- 
try. The  aspect  of  the  church,  the  temple  of  re- 
ligion, in  which,  nevertheless,  no  grander  cere- 
mony was  ever  performed,  was  imposing,  or,  it 
might  be  said,  sublime.  Never,  on  that  hill  where 
ancient  piety  had  fixed  its    seat,   was   a    nobler 


196  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

offering  made  to  God  than  this,  when  two  hun- 
dred of  the  elected  warriors  of  a  people  assem- 
bled in  His  tabernacle,  to  lay  the  deep  founda- 
tions of  a  nation's  liberty." 

The  convention  then  passed  several  resolutions, 
of  which  the  following  are  the  more  important. 
First,  it  was  "  resolved  unanimously,  that  a  claim 
of  any  body  of  men,  other  than  the  King,  Lords 
and  Commons  of  Ireland,  to  make  laws  to  bind 
this  kingdom,  is  unconstitutional,  illegal,  and  a 
grievance."  Second,  resolved  with  one  dissent- 
ing voice  only,  "  that  the  powers  exercised  by  the 
Privy  Councils  of  both  kingdoms,  under,  or  under 
color  or  pretence  of,  the  law  of  Poyning,  are  un- 
constitutional and  a  orrievance."  "  Resolved  unani- 
mously,  that  the  independence  of  judges  is  equally 
essential  to  the  impartial  administration  of  justice 
in  Ireland  as  in  England,  and  that  the  refusal  or 
delay  of  this  right  to  Ireland  makes  a  distinction 
where  there  should  be  no  distinction,  may  excite 
jealousy  where  perfect  union  should  prevail,  and 
is  in  itself  unconstitutional  and  a  grievance." 
But,  perhaps,  the  two  most  important  resolutions 
of  all  were  the  final  closing  ones :  "  Resolved, 
with  two  dissenting  voices  only  to  this  and  the 
following  resolution,  that  we  hold  the  right  of 
private  judgment  in  matters  of  religion  to  be 
equally  sacred  in  others  as  ourselves."  "Re- 
solved, therefore,  that  as  men  and  as  Irishmen,  as 
Christians  and  as  Protestants,  we  rejoice  in  the 


THE   GREAT    IRISH    STRUGGLE.  ]97 

relaxation  of  the  penal  laws  against  our  Roman 
Catholic  fellow-subjects,  and  that  we  conceive  the 
measure  fraught  with  the  happiest  consequences 
to  the  union  and  prosperity  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Ireland." 

Meantime  the  patriot  party  in  Parliament  acted 
in  co-operation  with  the  armed  patriots  outside. 
They  saw  that  the  time  had  come  for  pressing 
forward  the  claims  of  Ireland.  Grattan  was  now 
the  leader  of  the  patriot  party,  and  he  first  made 
an  attack  upon  the  law  preventing  Ireland  from 
carrying  on  trade  with  the  colonies.  After  some 
hesitation  the  motion  was  carried,  and  Ireland's 
right  to  free  trade  with  other  countries  was  estab- 
lished. Immediately  after  this  came  a  move  in 
favor  of  a  greater  and  more  important  reform. 
Grattan  brought  in  a  Bill  declaring  in  almost  the 
same  language  as  the  resolutions  passed  at  the 
Dungannon  convention,  that  the  King,  Lords,  and 
Commons  of  Ireland  were  the  only  persons  com- 
petent to  enact  the  laws  of  Ireland.  A  similar 
measure  had  been  brought  forward  in  the  year 
1780,  but  then  it  had  been  rejected.  But  in  1782 
things  were  in  a  very  different  position.  England 
had  been  beaten  at  Saragossa ;  American  inde- 
pendence had  been  established,  and  the  patriot 
party  had  a  backing  of  100,000  armed  men.  At 
last  the  British  government  yielded,  and  the  Duke 
of  Portland  was  sent  over  as  Lord  Lieutenant  to 
grant  the  prayer  of  Ireland.     On    the   i6th  of  ' 


198  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

April,  1782,  Grattan  brought  forward  his  Decla- 
ration of  Independence. 

"  On  that  day  a  large  body  of  the  Volunteers 
were  drawn  up  in  front  of  the  Old  Parliament 
House  of  Ireland.  Far  as  the  eye  could  stretch 
the  morning  sun  glanced  upon  their  weapons  and 
upon  their  flags  ;  and  it  was  through  their  parted 
ranks  that  Grattan  passed  to  move  the  emanci- 
pation of  his  country.  Never  had  a  great  orator 
a  nobler  or  a  more  pleasing  task.  It  was  to  pro- 
claim that  the  strife  of  six  centuries  had  termi- 
nated;  that  the  cause  for  which  so  much  blood 
had  been  shed,  and  so  much  genius  expended  in 
vain,  had  at  last  triumphed ;  and  that  a  new  era 
had  dawned  upon  Ireland.  Doubtless  on  that 
day  many  minds  reverted  to  the  long  night  of  op- 
pression and  crime  through  which  Ireland  had 
struggled  towards  that  conception  which  had  been 
as  the  pillar  of  fire  on  her  path.  But  now  at  last 
the  promised  land  seemed  reached.  The  dream 
of  Swift  and  of  Molyneux  was  realized.  The 
blessings  of  independence  were  reconciled  with 
the  blessings  of  connection  ;  and  in  an  emanci- 
pated Parliament  the  patriot  saw  the  guarantee 
of  the  future  prosperity  of  his  country  and  the 
Shekinah  of  liberty  in  the  land.  It  was  impos- 
sible, indeed,  not  to  perceive  that  there  was  still 
much  to  be  done — disqualifications  to  be  re- 
moved, anomalies  to  be  rectified,  corruption  to  be 
overcome ;   but  Grattan  at  least  firmly  believed 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  I99 

that  Ireland  possessed  the  vital  force  necessary 
for  all  this,  that  the  progress  of  a  healthy  public 
opinion  would  regenerate  and  reform  the  Irish 
Parliament  as  it  regenerated  and  reformed  the 
Parliament  of  England ;  and  that  every  year  the 
sense  of  independence  would  quicken  the  sym- 
pathy between  the  people  and  their  representa- 
tives. It  was,  indeed,  a  noble  triumph,  and  the 
orator  was  worthy  of  the  cause.  In  a  few  glowing 
sentences  he  painted  the  dreary  struggle  that  had 
passed,  the  magnitude  of  the  victory  that  had 
been  achieved,  and  the  grandeur  of  the  prospects 
that  were  unfolding.  *  I  am  now,'  he  exclaimed, 
'  to  address  a  free  people.  Ages  have  passed 
away,  and  this  is  the  first  moment  in  which  you 
could  be  distinguished  by  that  appellation.  I 
have  spoken  on  the  subject  of  your  liberty  so 
often  that  I  have  nothing  to  add,  and  have  only  to 
admire  by  what  heaven-directed  steps  you  have 
proceeded  until  the  whole  faculty  of  the  nation  is 
braced  up  to  the  act  of  her  own  deliverance.  I 
found  Ireland  on  her  knees;  I  watched  over  her 
with  paternal  solicitude  ;  I  have  traced  her  pro- 
gress from  injuries  to  arms,  and  from  arms  to 
liberty.  Spirit  of  Swift,  spirit  of  Molyneux,  your 
genius  has  prevailed  !  Ireland  is  now  a  nation  ! 
In  that  character  I  hail  her ;  and,  bowing  in  her 
august  presence,  I  say,  Esto perpetual ''  " 

In  England  the  change  in  the  position  of  the 
Irish  Parliament  obtained  the  approval  of  all  en- 


200  GLADSTONE— FARNELL. 

lieHtened  men.  Edmund  Burke  wrote  to  Lord 
Charlemont:  "  I  am  convinced  that  no  reluctant 
tie  can  be  a  strong  one,  I  believe  that  a  natural, 
cheerful  alliance  will  be  a  far  more  secure  link  of 
connection  than  any  principle  of  subordination 
borne  with  grudging  and  discontent."  Fox  and 
Grey,  the  leaders  of  the  English  Whig  party,  w^re 
equally  delighted  with  the  change.  "  I  would 
have  the  Irish  government,"  said  Fox  in  1797, 
"  regulated  by  Irish  voters  and  Irish  prejudices, 
and  I  am  convinced  that  the  more  she  is  under 
Irish  government  the  more  she  will  be  bound  to 
English  interests." 

The  independence  of  the  Irish  Parliament  was 
now  achieved,  and,  following  quickly  in  its  wake, 
came  the  attainment  of  objects  which  had  been 
striven  for  long  and  vainly  while  that  body  was 
under  the  thumb  of  an  alien  administration.  Par- 
liament met  yearly,  and  not  at  fluctuating  inter- 
vals as  before.  The  Independence  of  the  judicial 
bench  was  secured  by  an  act  providing  that  their 
commissions  should  be  valid  during  good  beha- 
vior, their  salaries  ascertained  and  established, 
and  their  removal  dependent  on  an  address  from 
both  Houses.  The  right  of  the  Commons  to 
originate  money  bills,  as  in  England,  was  estab- 
lished, as  was  also  their  right  to  assign  how  money 
voted  by  them  should  be  expended. 

But  there  were  some  points  on  which  Grattan 
appealed  for  further  reform.     The  pension  list,  as 


THE  GREAT  IRISH  STRUGGLE.  201 

has  been  seen,  was  one  of  the  most  potent  agen- 
cies in  the  hands  of  the  Crown  for  the  corruption 
of  members.  The  enormity  of  the  grievance  is 
sufficiently  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  money 
spent  in  pensions  in  Ireland  was  not  merely  rela- 
tively, but  absolutely,  greater  than  was  expended 
for  that  purpose  in  England  ;  that  the  pension 
list  trebled  in  the  first  thirty  years  of  George  III. ; 
and  that  in  1793  it  amounted  to  no  less  than 
^i  24,000.  As  a  proof  of  the  number  of  persons 
to  whom  pensions  were  given,  it  may  be  men- 
tioned that  on  the  Irish  Pension  List  there  were 
the  names  of  the  mistresses  of  George  I.,  of  the 
Queen  Dowager  of  Prussia,  sister  of  George  II., 
and  of  the  Sardinian  Ambassador  who  neofotiated 
the  peace  of  Paris.  The  efforts  of  Grattan  to 
reduce  this  scandalous  list  were  repeated  over 
and  over  again.  He  brought  forward  the  subject 
in  1785  and  in  1791,  but  the  government  always 
opposed  him,  and  he  was  as  often  defeated. 

The  legislation  of  the  Irish  Parliament  upon 
one  question,  however,  proceeded  with  rapidity 
and  with  extraordinary  liberality.  The  reader  is 
already  aware  that  the  Irish  Parliament  at  this 
time  consisted  exclusively  of  Irish  Protestants  and 
Irish  landlords,  but  that  Parliament  had  scarcely 
received  its  independence  when  it  proceeded  to 
carry  out  the  great  principles  which  had  been 
laid  down  by  the  Protestant  volunteers'  meeting 

in  the  Protestant  Church  of  Dungannon.     The 
12 


202  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

toleration,  indeed,  of  the  Irish  Parliament  began 
at  a  date  even  anterior  to  its  independence.  In 
1768  a  Bill  had  been  passed  without  a  division 
against  the  Penal  Code,  and  its  rejection  was  due 
to  the  English  Parliament.  In  1774-78  and  1782, 
and  finally  in  1792,  other  relief  Bills  were  also 
enacted,  and  by  this  time  some  of  the  worst  griev- 
ances of  the  Irish  Catholics  were  removed.  But 
there  were  other  grievances  which  still  remained, 
and  which  were  of  the  very  iJ^imost  importance. 
The  Irish  Catholic  had  not  a  right  to  vote  for  a 
member  of  Parliament  or  to  become  a  member 
of  Parliament,  and  he  had  no  place  in  the  higher 
ranks  of  the  law  or  the  army.  Under  the  influ- 
ence of  a  native  legislature  the  feeling  against  the 
Catholics  was  now  rapidly  passing  away;  indeed, 
it  had  begun  to  disappear  at  even  an  earlier  date. 
Lecky  quotes  the  following  passage  from  the 
preface  to  Molyneux's  "  Case  of  Ireland,"  which 
proves  that  as  far  back  as  1770  religious  bigotry 
was  already  disappearing: 

"  The  rigor  of  Popish  bigotry  is  softening  very 
fast ;  the  Protestants  are  losing  all  bitter  remem- 
brance of  those  evils  which  their  ancestors  suf- 
fered, and  the  two  sects  are  insensibly  gliding  into 
the  same  common  interests.  The  Protestants, 
through  apprehensions  from  the  superior  numbers 
of  the  Catholics,  were  eager  to  secure  themselves 
in  the  powerful  protection  of  an  English  Minister, 
and  to  gain  this  were  ready  to  comply  with  his 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE  203 

most  exorbitant  demands ;  the  Catholics  were 
aHke  wilhno-  to  embarrass  the  Protestants  as  their 

o 

natural  foes;  but  awakening  from  this  delusion, 
they  begin  to  condemn  their  past  follies,  reflect 
with  shame  on  having  so  long  played  the  game 
of  an  artful  enemy,  and  are  convinced  that  with- 
out unanimity  they  never  can  obtain  such  con- 
sideration as  may  entitle  them  to  demand,  with 
any  prospect  of  success,  the  just  and  common 
rights  of  mankind.  Religious  bigotry  is  losing 
its  force  everywhere.  Commercial  and  not  re- 
ligious interests  are  the  objects  of  almost  every 
nation  in  Europe." 

But  in  a  moment  the  Irish  Parliament  was  in 
full  possession  of  its  powers.  The  car  of  progress 
proceeded  with  unexampled  rapidity.  In  1793  a 
bill  was  introduced  the  object  of  which  was  to 
allow  the  Catholics  to  vote.  This  act  was  per- 
haps the  most  noteworthy  ever  carried  by  the 
native  legislature. 

The  independent  native  Legislature  proceeded 
to  justify  its  existence  in  other  respects  also. 
During  its  existence  the  country  had  its  first 
gleam  of  prosperity.  On  this  point  evidence  is 
abounding  and  incontestable.  The  testimony 
comes  as  emphatically  from  the  men  who  de- 
stroyed the  Legislature  as  from  those  who  de- 
fended it.  The  increase  of  Ireland's  prosperity 
under  the  native  Legislature  was  by  a  curious 
reversal  of  facts  and  ideas  one  of  the  arguments 


204  GLADSTONE— PARNELL 

by  which  Pitt  justified  the  extinction  of  Parlia- 
ment. "As  Ireland,"  he  said,  "  was  so  prosperous 
under  her  own  Parliament,  we  can  calculate  that 
the  amount  of  that  prosperity  will  be  trebled  by  a 
British  Legislature."  Pitt  then  went  on  to  quote 
a  speech  of  Mr.  Foster,  a  member  of  the  Irish 
Legislature  in  1785,  in  these  words:  "The  ex- 
portation of  Irish  produce  to  England  amounts  to 
two  millions  and  a  half  annually,  and  the  exporta- 
tion of  British  produce  to  Ireland  amounts  to  one 
million."  Quoting  Foster  again,  he  said,  "  Britain 
imports  annually  ;^2, 500,000  of  our  products,  all, 
or  very  nearly  all,  duty  free,  and  we  import 
almost  a  million  of  hers,  and  raise  a  revenue  on 
every  article  of  it."  Pitt  went  on  to  say,  "  But 
how  stands  the  case  now  (1799)  ?  The  trade  at 
this  time  is  infinitely  more  advantageous  to  Ire- 
land. It  will  be  proved  from  the  documents  I 
hold  in  my  hand,  as  far  as  relates  to  the  mere  in- 
terchange of  manufactures,  that  the  manufactures 
exported  to  Ireland  from  Great  Britain  in  1797 
very  little  exceeded  one  million  sterling  (the  arti- 
cles of  produce  amount  to  nearly  the  same  sum), 
whilst  Great  Britain,  on  the  other  hand,  imported 
from  Ireland  to  the  amount  of  more  than  three 
millions  in  the  manufacture  of  linen  and  linen 
yarn,  and  between  two  and  three  millions  in  pro- 
visions and  cattle,  besides  corn  and  other  articles 
of  produce."  Fitzgibbon,  Lord  Clare,  was  Pitt's 
most  unscrupulous  and  ablest  instrument  in  car- 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE  205 

rying  the  Union;  yet  in    1798  Lord  Clare  said: 
"There  is  not  a  nation  on  the  face  of  the  habita- 
ble globe  which  has  advanced  in  cultivation,  in 
agriculture,  in  manufactures,  with   the  same  ra- 
pidity, in  the  same  period,  as  Ireland,"  namely, 
between   1782  and  1798.     In  this  opinion  Lord 
Grey,  Lord  Plunket,  and  many  others  fully  concur. 
The  question  will  at  once  occur  to  the  mind  of 
the  American  reader  why  it  was  that  an  institution 
that  was   thus  daily   proving   its   fitness  for  the 
country  ever  ceased  to  exist.     The  explanation  is 
easily  found  in  the  constitution  of  the  Parliament, 
and  partly  also  in  the  nature  of  the  settlement 
made  in  1782.     First,  as  to  the  constitution  of  the 
Parliament;  attention  has  already  been  called  to 
the    character   of    both    Houses    of    that    body. 
Grattan   and  the  other   patriot   leaders  saw  the 
immense  dano^er  there  was  to  the  continuance  of 
Ireland's  independence  if  this  state  of  things  was 
allowed  to  continue.     Session  after  session,  time 
after  time,  Grattan  and  others  brought  in  Bills, 
the  object  of  which  was  to  procure  the  reform  of 
Parliament,  both   in  its  own   constitution  and  in 
the  electorate.     In  speech  after  speech  the  cor- 
ruptions of  the  existing  system  were  pointed  out; 
and  attention  was  especially  called  to  the  system 
by  which  at  one  stroke  both  the  House  of  Lords 
and   the    House    of   Commons   were    corrupted. 
The  House  of  Lords  was  corrupted  by  the  admis- 
sion  to  Its  ranks  of  men  who  had  bought  their 


r 


206  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

peerages,  and  the  House  of  Commons  was  at  the 
same  time  corrupted  by  the  sale  to  the  govern- 
ment of  the  seats  which  belonged  to  the  men  who 
had  bought  the  peerages.  "  Will  any  man,"  says 
Flood,  "say  that  the  Constitution  is  perfect  when 
he  knows  that  the  honor  of  the  peerage  may  be 
obtained  by  any  ruffian  who  possesses  borough 
interest?"  Grattan  accuses  the  Minister  of  the 
Crown  of  havinof  '*  introduced  a  trade  or  com- 
merce,  or,  rather,  brokerage  of  honors,  and  thus 
establishing  in  the  money  arising  from  that  sale  a 
fund  for  corrupting  representation." 

But  these  remonstrances  proved  in  vain  ;  and 
the  government,  times  out  of  number,  refused  to 
make  any  change  of  a  really  practicable  character 
in  the  composition  and  constitution  of  either  House 
of  Parliament,  and  the  House  of  Commons  con- 
tinued to  consist  for  the  most  part  of  placemen 
and  pensioners  and  the  creatures  of  the  propri- 
etors of  rotten  boroughs,  openly  and  flagrantly 
ready  for  sale. 

The  attempts  to  reform  the  Parliament  by  the 
admission  of  Catholics  thereto  met  with  an  equal 
fate.  At  one  time,  however,  it  seemed  as  if  this 
question  were  about  to  be  decided.  In  1794 
Lord  Westmoreland — a  Lord  Lieutenant  who  was 
unfavorable  to  Catholic  claims — was  succeeded  by 
Lord  Fitzwilliam,  who  was  equally  known  as  a 
stronof  advocate  of  those  claims.  Lord  Fitzwil- 
Ham  was  a  man  of  great  importance  in  those  days 


THE   GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE  207 

He  was  the  most  prominent  member  of  the  Whig 
party.  He  was  a  friend  of  Grattan's,  and  his 
views  on  Catholic  emancipation  had  been  over 
and  over  again  pronounced.  When  he  landed  in 
1 794  accordingly  he  was  received  everywhere 
with  enthusiasm.  Petitions  in  favor  of  Catholic 
emancipation  were  sent  in  not  merely  by  the 
Catholics  but  also  by  the  Protestants.  And  Lord 
Fitzwilliam  himself  was  able  to  speak  to  the  King 
of  "  the  universal  approbation  wuth  which  the 
emancipation  of  the  Catholics  was  received  on  the 
part  of  his  Protestant  subjects." 

Ireland  at  the  moment  became  as  one  man, 
religious  bigotry  was  forgotten,  loyalty  was 
universal.  Within  the  last  few  weeks  the  change 
that  Lord  Fitzwilliam's  viceroyalty  made  was 
brought  mto  relief  by  a  significant  episode. 
Lord  Aberdeen,  a  popular  London  viceroy  of  the 
Queen,  and  bearer  of  another  message  of  peace, 
visited  Kenmare,  in  the  month  of  May,  1886.  He 
was  received  by  a  popular  band  of  music,  which 
played  "God  save  the  Queen."  It  was  the  first 
time  the  National  Anthem  of  England  had  been 
played  in  this  town  since  1795  ;  and  then  in  honor 
of  a  visit  from  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  but  he  now  was 
recalled,  and  the  hopes  of  Ireland  were  blasted. 

"We  have,"  said  Grattan,  "no  Irish  Cabinet. 
Individuals  may  deprecate,  may  dissuade,  but 
they  cannot  enforce  their  principles;  there  is  no 
embodied    authority   in    Ireland.      Again,    your 


208  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Government  constantly  fluctuates  ;  your  viceroys 
change  every  day ;  men  of  different  parties  and 
different  principles,  faithful  to  private  engage- 
ments but  not  bound  to  any  uniform  public  sys- 
tem. Again,  you  have  no  decided  responsibility 
in  Ireland ;  the  objects  of  your  inquest  might  not 
be  easily  found  ;  in  short,  you  have  in  this  country 
the  misfortune  of  a  double  administration,  a 
double  importunity — a  fluctuating  government, 
and  a  fugacious  responsibility."  Some  years 
later  Mr.  Grattan  says,  "Are  the  Ministers  of 
Ireland  fonder  of  the  people  of  this  country  than 
the  Ministers  of  the  sister  country  are  of  Great 
Britain  ?  Are  they  not  often  aliens  in  affection 
as  well  as  birth,  disposed  to  dispute  your  rights, 
censure  your  proceedings,  and  to  boast  that  you 
cannot  punish  them,  and  that,  therefore,  they  do 
not  fear  you  ?  Are  they  not  proud  to  humble 
you  and  ambitious  to  corrupt  you  ?  " 

In  1798  the  rebellion  which  had  been  smoul- 
dering throughout  the  country  at  last  broke  forth. 
Though  Catholics  took  mainly  the  chief  part  in 
the  insurrection  it  was  originally  started  by  a 
body  of  Protestants  in  Belfast,  who  formed  a 
society  known  as  the  "  United  Irishmen."  The 
testimony  is  overwhelming  that  the  United  Irish- 
men contemplated  at  first  only  constitutional 
methods  of  action  ;  but,  as  they  themselves  after- 
wards stated,  their  despair  of  obtaining  reform 
through  the  continued  opposition  of  the  govern- 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  209 

ment  to  Grattan's  proposals  drove  them  into 
rebellion.  The  rebellion  was  crushed  by  the 
most  terrible  cruelty.  One  of  its  worst  effects 
was  to  revive  the  religious  passions  between  dif- 
ferent sections  of  Irishmen  by  which  the  benefi- 
cent policy  of  the  Irish  party  and  the  patriot 
leaders  was  obliterated.  Pitt,  and  Lord  Cas- 
tlereagh,  his  agent  in  Ireland,  aggravated  the 
cruelties  by  giving  every  form  of  encouragement 
to  the  persons  mainly  occupied  in  carrying  out 
his  cruelties. 

"The  Protestants,"  says  Lecky,  "passed  into 
that  condition  of  terrified  ferocity  to  which  ruling 
races  are  always  liable  when  they  find  themselves 
a  small  minority  in  the  midst  of  a  fierce  re- 
bellion." '  The  minds  of  the  people,'  wrote  Lord 
Cornwallis,  after  the  suppression  of  the  revolt, 
'are  now  in  such  a  state  that  nothing  but  blood 
will  satisfy  them.'  '  Even  at  my  table,  where  you 
will  suppose  I  do  all  I  can  to  prevent  it,  the  con- 
versation always  turns  on  hanging,  shooting, 
burning  and  so  forth ;  and  if  a  priest  has  been 
put  to  death  the  greatest  joy  is  expressed  by  the 
whole  company.'  " 

The  native  Irish,  maddened  by  these  cruelties, 
replied  with  cruelties  of  great  if  not  equal  fe- 
rocity. At  last  the  rebellion  of  1 798  was,  put 
down,  and  the  British  authorities  now  thought  the 
time  had  come  for  proposing  the  Act  of  Union. 
Oa  the  destruction  of  the  Irish  Legislature  Pitt 


210  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

had  been  resolved  from  an  early  date.  He  had 
sent  to  Ireland  as  a  means  of  carrying  out  this 
policy  Lord  Castlereagh,  an  Irishman  by  birth, 
but  English  in  all  his  sympathies  and  aims.  This 
remarkable  man,  who  played  so  sinister  a  part 
in  Irish  and  afterwards  in  English  history,  had 
the  qualities  exactly  suitable  for  carrying  out  an 
enterprise  of  this  kind.  He  had  cool  courage 
and  an  utter  absence  of  either  shame  or  of 
scruple.  While  Lord  Cornwallis,  the  Lord  Lieu- 
tenant at  the  time,  spoke,  as  will  be  seen,  with 
loathing  of  the  work  at  which  he  was  employed, 
Lord  Castlereagh  pursued  it  with  perfect  equa- 
nimity, and  sometimes  described  it  as  though  he 
gloried  in  the  shame.  Preparations  went  on  for 
years  to  make  the  Parliament  ready  for  the  final 
blow,  and  the  patriots  of  the  time  over  and  over 
again  saw  how  the  work  of  corruption  was  pro- 
ceeding, and  the  hour  of  destruction  drawing 
nigh. 

"We  are  no  longer,"  writes  Dr.  Browne,  one 
of  the  members  for  Trinity  College,  "attacked 
by  the  stern  violence  of  prerogative,  but  a  new 
and  more  dangerous  foe  has  arisen — a  corrupt 
and  all-subduing  influence  which,  with  a  silent  but 
resistless  course,  has  overwhelmed  the  land  and 
borne  down  every  barrier  of  liberty  and  virtue." 
"Then,"  says  Sir  L.  Parsons,  "those  acquisitions 
in  1782,  which  the  people  thought  would  have 
brought  good  government,  have  brought  bad,  and 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  211 

why  ?  Because  it  has  been  the  object  of  the 
English  Ministers  ever  since  to  countervail  what 
was  obtained  at  that  period,  and  substitute  a 
surreptitious  and  clandestine  influence  for  that 
open  power  which  the  English  Legislature  was 
then  obliged  to  relinquish,"  It  was  in  the  year 
1 799  that  the  Union  was  proposed  for  the  first 
time.  The  government  put  forward  every  means 
they  could  employ  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  it. 
But  it  was,  nevertheless,  opposed  by  all  the  in- 
tellect and  all  the  conscience  of  Ireland.  "  It  is 
scarcely  an  exaggeration  to  say,"  observes  Lecky, 
"  that  the  proposal  to  make  the  Union  provoked 
the  whole  of  the  unbribed  intellect  of  Ireland  to 
oppose  it."  The  result  was  that  the  bill  was  re- 
jected by  109  to  104  votes. 

Castlereagh,  however,  was  a  man  of  persistent 
purpose,  and  he  now  set  himself  to  work  to  adopt 
more  certain  means  of  carrying  out  his  resolve. 
He  employed  a  mixture  of  force  and  fraud.  Mar- 
tial law  was  proclaimed  all  over  the  country,  and 
wherever  there  was  any  attempt  to  procure  an 
open  expression  of  public  feeling,  violence  was 
either  threatened  or  employed  against  it.  The 
people  of  Dublin  had  signified  their  joy  at  the 
rejection  of  the  government  measure,  and  they 
were  attacked  without  notice  by  a  body  of  soldiers 
and  some  people  were  shot  down.  A  body  of 
the  gentry  had  gathered  together  in  Kings 
county  for  the  purpose  of  declaring  their  opinions 


212  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

upon  the  proposed  legislation  ;  they  had  no  sooner 
assembled  than  a  column  of  troops  under  Major 
Rogers  were  seen  to  be  advancing,  armed  with 
four  cannon;  by  which  it  was  made  perfectly 
clear  that  if  the  meeting  were  persevered  with  the 
building  would  have  been  destroyed.  Major 
Rogers  was  remonstrated  wuth ;  but  his  answer 
was,  that  but  for  one  word  from  the  sheriff  he 
might  blow  them  all  to  atoms.  And  in  several 
other  parts  of  that  county — according  to  Sir  Jonah 
Barrington,  a  well-known  contemporary  chron- 
icler— people  were  restrained  from  expressing 
their  opinions  by  the  dread  of  grapeshot.  Steps 
were  taken  against  all  those  encouraging  public 
opinion  against  the  Union,  or  who  did  anything 
to  promote  the  national  protest.  The  Marquis  of 
Downshire  sent  out  a  circular  urging  petitions 
against  the  Union ;  and  he  was  dismissed  from 
the  lord-lieutenancy  of  his  county  and  his  name 
was  erased  from  the  list  of  privy  councillors.  In 
the  same  way  in  the  House  of  Commons  all  men 
who  held  office  and  who  refused  to  vote  for  the 
destruction  of  the  country's  liberties  were  dis- 
missed. Among  the  persons  who  thus  gave  hon- 
orable, testimony  to  the  consistency  of  their  prin- 
ciples was  Sir  John  Parnell,  the  ancestor  of  the 
present  leader  of  the  Irish  people,  who  had  been 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  for  seventeen  years. 
Petitions  at  the  same  time  were  sent  over  the 
whole  country  to  gather  signatures  in  favor  of  the 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  213 

Union ;  and  so  eager  was  Castlereagh  for  even 
the  appearance  of  popular  adhesion  to  his  de- 
mand that  felons  in  jail  were  offered  their  pardon 
on  condition  of  attaching  their  names.  Never- 
theless, when  the  sifjnatures  came  to  be  counted 
up,  700,000  protested  against  the  Union  ;  and 
only  3,000  were  found  to  demand  it. 

These  were  but  a  small  portion  of  the  plans 
adopted  to  carry  the  Union  on  the  second  at- 
tempt. Castlereagh,  having  made  up  his  mind 
that  corruption  was  the  best  of  all  means  for  gain- 
ing votes,  resorted  to  this  means  in  the  most  open 
manner.  The  seats  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
owing  to  the  system  of  bribery,  had  become  as 
valuable  as  any  other  article  of  merchandise, 
and  Casdereagh  determined  to  take  the  same 
view  of  the  question  as  the  owners  themselves. 
Accordingly,  he  announced  three  plans  on  the 
part  of  the  government,  which  together  made  as 
complete  a  system  of  corruption  as  perhaps  ever 
prevailed  in  the  history  of  any  country. 

In  brief,  then,  Lord  Castlereagh  boldly  an- 
nounced his  intention  to  turn  the  scale  by  bribes 
to  all  who  would  accept  them,  under  the  name  of 
compensation  for  the  loss  of  patronage  and  interest. 
He  publicly  declared,  first,  that  noblemen  who  re- 
turned Union  members  to  Parliament  should  be 
paid,  in  cash,  ;^i  5,000  for  every  member  so  re- 
turned ;  secondly,  that  every  member  who  had 
purchased  a  seat  in  Parliament  should  have  his 


214  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

purchase-money  repaid  to  him  out  of  the  treasury 
of  Ireland ;  thirdly,  that  all  members  of  Parlia- 
ment, or  others,  who  were  losers  by  the  Union 
should  be  fully  recompensed  for  their  losses,  and 
that  ^1,500,000  should  be  devoted  to  this  ser- 
vice. In  other  words,  all  who  should  affection- 
ately support  his  measure  were,  under  some 
pretext  or  other,  to  share  in  this  "  bank  of  cor- 
ruption." 

Meantime  seats  had  been  vacated  by  men  who 
had  obtained  good  sums  fordoing  so ;  and  by  the 
time  that  Parliament  met  again  Lord  Castlereagh 
could  feel  sure  that  the  mine  was  laid  and  that  it 
only  required  the  fuse  to  burst  up  the  Parliamen- 
tary edifice. 

Another  of  his  methods  was  to  hold  out  vague 
promises  to  the  Catholics  and  their  bishops,  that 
when  the  Irish  Parliament  was  destroyed  Irish 
Catholic  claims  would  obtain  a  hearing  from  the 
Imperial  Parliament;  and  in  this  way  undoubtedly 
a  few  of  the  Catholic  leaders  were  lulled  into 
security. 

The  Irish  Parliament  was  opened  January  15, 
1800.  Lord  Casdereagh  thought  it  good  tactics 
to  keep  all  mention  of  the  Union  out  of  the  King's 
speech.  He  wanted  more  clearly  to  prospect  his 
ground  ;  and  he  also  wanted  the  poison  of  corrup- 
tion to  have  a  further  chance  of  working.  When 
an  army  is  demoralized,  small  desertions  lead  to 
general    panic.     Accordingly    Lord    Castlereagh 


THE   GREAT    IRISH   STRUGGLE.  215 

put  up  Viscount  Loftus  to  move  the  address  in 
reply  to  the  speech  from  the  throne.  Lord  Loftus 
was  a  man  of  grotesque  vacuity  of  mind,  and  was 
now  known  by  an  uncompHmentary  nicl<name; 
but  there  was  wisdom  nevertheless  in  putting  him 
into  a  prominent  place.  He  was  the  son  of  the 
Marquis  of  Ely,  who  had  three  rotten  boroughs, 
and  his  speech  in  favor  of  the  policy  of  the  gov- 
ernment showed  that  the  Marquis,  his  father, 
would  receive  his  bribe  of  £4^,000.  Such  a 
splendid  award  for  perfidy  was  sure  to  have  its 
good  effect  on  weak  and  wavering  minds.  Dr. 
Browne,  one  of  the  members  for  the  University 
of  Dublin,  and,  we  regret  to  say,  an  American  by 
birth,  served  a  similar  purpose.  He  had  voted 
against  the  Union  the  previous  session.  He  de- 
clared that  he  had  now  become  more  inclined  to 
the  Union  from  "intermediate  circumstances." 
The  intermediate  circumstances  were  that  he  had 
been  promised  the  place  of  Prime  Serjeant  for  his 
vote.  The  patriot  party  insisted  on  raising  the 
question  of  the  Union  on  the  address,  and  a  very 
picturesque  incident  occurred  in  the  course  of  the 
debate.  Mr.  Grattan  had  retired  in  disgust  and 
despair  from  Parliament  shordy  before  the  rebel- 
lion broke  out ;  he  was  in  bad  health,  and  had 
sought  recovery  in  change  of  air  and  scene.  His 
friends  induced  him  to  accept  a  seat  for  the 
borough  of  Wicklow.  The  return  of  the  writ  was 
delayed  as  long  as  possible ;  but  by  a  series  of 


216  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Stratagems,  including  the  employment  of  a  num- 
ber of  swift  horses,  the  return  reached  Dublin  at 
5  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  proper  officer  was 
compelled  to  get  out  of  bed  in  order  to  present 
the  document  to  Parliament.  The  House  at  that 
moment  was  in  warm  debate  on  the  amendment 
denouncing  theproposeddestruction  of  the  Houses 
of  Parliament.  A  whisper,  writes  Mitchell,  ran 
through  every  party  that  Mr.  Grattan  was  elected, 
and  would  immediately  take  his  seat.  The  Min- 
isterialists smiled  with  incredulous  derision,  and 
the  Opposition  thought  the  news  too  good  to  be 
true. 

Mr.  Egan  was  speaking  strongly  against  the 
measure,  when  Mr.  George  Ponsonby  and  Mr. 
Arthur  Moore  (afterwards  Judge  of  the  Common 
Pleas)  walked  out,  and  immediately  returned  lead- 
ing, or  rather  helping,  Mr.  Grattan,  in  a  state  of 
total  feebleness  and  debility.  The  effect  was 
electric.  Mr.  Grattan's  illness  and  deep  chagrin 
had  reduced  a  form,  never  symmetrical,  and  a 
visage  at  all  times  thin,  nearly  to  the  appearance 
of  a  spectre.  As  he  feebly  tottered  into  the 
House  every  member  simultaneously  rose  from 
his  seat.  He  moved  slowly  to  the  table  ;  his  lan- 
ofuid  countenance  seemed  to  revive  as  he  took 
those  oaths  that  restored  him  to  his  pre-eminent 
station  ;  smiles  of  inward  satisfaction  obviously 
illuminated  his  features,  and  reanimation  and  en- 
ergy seemed  to  kindle  by  the  labor  of  his  mind. 


TWE   GREAT    IRISH   STRUGGLE.  217 

The  House  was  silent.  Mr.  Egan  did  not  resume 
his  speech.  Mr.  Grattan,  almost  breathless,  at- 
tempted to  rise,  but  found  himself  unable  at  first 
to  stand,  and  asked  permission  to  address  the 
House  from  his  seat.  Never  was  a  finer  illustra- 
tion of  the  sovereignty  of  mind  over  matter 
Grattan  spoke  two  hours  with  all  his  usual  vehe. 
mence  and  fire  against  the  Union,  and  in  favor  of 
the  amendment  of  Sir  Lawrence  Parsons.  The 
Treasury  Bench  was  at  first  disquieted,  then  be- 
came savage ;  and  it  was  resolved  to  bully  or  to 
kill  Mr.  Grattan. 

But  these  attempts  did  not  succeed.  At  lo 
o'clock  in  the  morningr  the  division  was  taken, 
■when  96  voted  for  the  amendment  of  Sir  Law- 
rence Parsons,  protesting  against  the  Union  ;  and 
1 38  against.  Thus  at  the  very  first  fight  Castle- 
reagh  had  a  majority  of  42.  This  greatly  encour- 
aged the  Unionists.  But  still  Castlereagh  thought 
that  some  time  would  be  necessary  before  the 
House  could  be  made  quite  ready  for  the  accept- 
ance of  his  proposal. 

It  was  not  till  the  15th  of  February  that  he 
brought  the  proposed  measure  before  the  Parlia- 
ment. Debates,  eloquent  and  fierce,  took  place 
on  his  proposals.  Grattan  was  so  grossly  in- 
sulted by  one  of  the  officials  of  Castlereagh  that 
he  declared  the  government  had  resolved  to 
"  pistol  him  off,"  and  at  once  accepted  a  challenge 
and   fought  with  Corry,  his  assailant.     All   this 

13 


218  GLADSTONE— PARNELL 

time  the  secret  agents  of  Castlereagh  were  busy 
in  promising  peerages,  pensions,  and  bribes;  and 
military  were  constantly  drawn  up  around  the  old 
House  in  College  Green  to  terrorize  the  people 
against  any  expression  of  popular  discontent. 

Nobody  has  more  tersely  or  eloquently  de- 
scribed the  means  by  which  the  Union  was  passed 
than  Mr.  Gladstone.  Speaking  at  Liverpool  on 
June  29th,  1886,  he  said: 

"Ah,  gentlemen,  when  I  opened  this  question 
in  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  8th  of  April  I 
said  very  little  about  the  Act  of  Union — for  two 
reasons :  first  of  all,  because  looking  at  the  facts, 
whatever  that  act  may  have  been  in  its  beginning, 
I  do  not  think  that  it  could  safely  or  wisely  be 
blotted  out  of  the  Statute  Book,  and  for  another 
reason,  that  I  did  not  wish  gratuitously  to  expose 
to  the  world  the  shame  of  my  country.  But  this 
I  must  tell  you,  if  we  are  compelled  to  go  into  it 
- — the  position  against  us,  the  resolute  banding  of 
the  great  and  the  rich  and  the  noble,  and  I  know 
not  who,  against  the  true  genuine  sense  of  the 
people,  compels  us  to  unveil  the  truth,  and  I  tell 
you  this,  that  so  far  as  I  can  judge,  and  so  far  as 
my  knowledge  goes,  I  grieve  to  say  in  the  pres- 
ence of  distinguished  Irishmen  that  I  know  of  no 
blacker  or  fouler  transaction  in  the  history  of  man 
than  the  making  of  the  Union.  It  is  not  possible 
to  tell  you  fully,  but  in  a  few  words  I  give  you 
some  idea  of  what  I  mean.     Fraud  is  bad,  and 


^IIE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  219 

force — violence  as  against  rights — is  bad,  but  if 
there  is  one  thine  more  detestable  than  another. 
it  is  the  careful,  artful  combination  of  the  two. 
The  carrying  of  the  Irish  Union  was  nothing  in 
the  world  but  a  combination  of  force  and  iraud 
applied  in  the  basest  manner  to  the  attainment  of 
an  end  which  all  Ireland — for  the  exceptions  might 
be  counted  on  your  fingers — detested,  Protestants 
even  more  than  Roman  Catholics.  In  the  Irish 
Parliament  there  were  300  seats,  and  out  of  these 
there  were  116  placemen  and  pensioners.  The 
government  of  Mr.  Pitt  rewarded  with  places 
which  did  not  vacate  the  seat,  as  they  do  in  this 
country  if  I  remember  aright,  those  who  voted  for 
them,  and  took  away  the  pensions  of  those  who 
were  disposed  to  vote  against  them.  Notwith- 
standing that  state  of  things,  in  1 797,  in_  the  month 
of  June,  the  proposal  of  union  was  rejected  in  the 
Irish  Parliament.  The  Irish  Parliament,  in  1795, 
under  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  had  been  gallantly  and 
patriotically  exercised  in  amending  the  condition 
of  the  country.  The  monopolists  of  the  Beres- 
ford  and  other  families  made  Mr.  Pitt  recall  Lord 
Fitzwilliam,  and  that  moment  it  was  that  the  rev- 
olutionary action  began  among  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics of  Ireland  ;  from  that  moment  the  word  •  sep- 
aration,' never  dreamt  of  before,  by  degrees 
insinuated  itself  in  their  councils  ;  an  uneasy  state 
of  things  prevailed,  undoubted  disaffection  was 
produced,  and  it  could   not  but  be  produced  by 


220  GLADSTONE— PA  RNELL. 

abominable  misgovernment.  So  produced,  it  was 
the  excuse  for  all  that  followed.  Inside  the  walls 
of  Parliament  the  terror  of  withdrawing  from  Par- 
liament and  wholesale  bribery  in  the  purchase  of 
nomination  borouofhs  were  carried  on  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  turn  the  scale.  Outside  Parliament 
martial  law  and  the  severest  restrictions  prevented 
the  people  from  expressing  their  views  and  senti- 
ments on  the  Union.  That  the  detestable  union 
of  fraud  and  force  might  be  consummated  the 
bribe  was  held  out  to  the  Roman  Catholic  bishops 
and  clergy,  in  the  hope  of  at  any  rate  slackening 
their  opposition,  that  if  only  they  would  consent 
to  the  Union  it  should  be  followed  by  full  admis- 
sion to  civil  privileges  and  by  endowments,  which 
would  at  any  rate  have  equalized  the  monstrous 
anomaly  of  the  existence  of  the  Irish  Church. 
That  was  the  state  of  things  by  which — by  the  use 
of  all  those  powers  that  this  great  and  strong 
country  could  bring  into  exercise  through  its 
command  over  the  executive  aofainst  the  weak- 
ness  of  Ireland — by  that  means  they  got  together 
a  sufficient  number  of  people — with  1 1 6  placemen 
and  pensioners  out  of  300  persons,  with  a  large 
number  of  borough  proprietors  bought  at  the  cost 
of  a  million  and  a  half  of  money — at  last  they  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  a  majority  of  between  42  and  45 
to  pass  the  Union.  I  have  heard  of  more  bloody 
proceedings — the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew 
was  a  more  cruel   proceeding — but  a  more  base 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  221 

proceeding,  a  more  vile  proceeding,  is  not  re- 
corded in  my  judgment  upon  the  page  of  history 
than  the  process  by  which  the  Tory  government 
of  that  period  brought  about  the  union  with  Ire- 
land in  the  teeth  and  in  despite  of  the  protest  of 
every  Liberal  statesman  from  one  end  of  the 
country  to  the  other." 

When  the  question  came  before  the  English 
Parliament  the  Union  was  opposed  by  Grey,  after- 
ward Lord  Grey,  Sheiidan,  Lord  Holland,  and  all 
the  odier  great  leaders  of  the  Whig  party.  But 
Pitt  succeeded  in  carrying  all  his  proposals 
through.  The  question  finally  came  before  the 
Irish  Parliament  in  the  shape  of  a  bill  for  the 
Legislative  Union.  Again  Grattan,  Plunkett, 
Saurin,  afterward  Attorney-General  under  the 
British  Crown;  Bushe,  afterward  a  Chief-Justice, 
and  all  the  other  men  of  genius  in  the  Irish  Par- 
liament, protested  against  the  destruction  of  die 
Irish  government.  Grattan's  final  speech  sounds 
prophetic  at  the  present  hour.  "The  constitu- 
tion," he  said,  "  may  for  a  time  be  lost,  but  the 
character  of  the  people  cannot  be  lost.  The  Min- 
isters of  the  Crown  may  perhaps  at  length  find 
out  that  it  is  not  so  easy  to  put  down  forever  an 
ancient  and  respectable  nation  by  abilities,  how- 
ever great,  or  by  corruption,  however  irresistible. 
Liberty  may  repair  her  golden  beams,  and  with 
redoubled  heat  animate  the  country.  The  cry  of 
loyalty  will  not  long  condnue  against  the  princi- 


222  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

pies  of  liberty.  Loyalty  is  a  noble,  a  judicious, 
and  a  capacious  principle,  but  in  these  countries 
loyalty  distinct  from  liberty  is  corruption,  not  loy- 
alty. The  cry  of  the  connection  will  not  in  the 
end  avail  against  the  principles  of  liberty.  Con- 
nection is  a  wise  and  a  profound  policy,  but  con- 
nection without  an  Irish  Parliament  is  connection 
without  its  own  principle,  without  analogy  of  con- 
dition, without  the  pride  of  honor  that  should 
attend  it — is  innovation,  is  peril,  is  subjugation — 
not  connection.  .  .  ,  Identification  is  a  solid  and 
imperial  maxim,  necessary  for  the  preservation  of 
freedom,  necessary  for  that  of  empire ;  but  with- 
out union  of  hearts,  with  a  separate  government 
and  without  a  separate  Parliament,  identification 
is  extinction,  is  dishonor,  is  conquest — not  identi- 
fication. Yet  I  do  not  give  up  my  country.  I  see 
her  in  a  swoon,  but  she  is  not  dead.  Though  in 
her  tomb  she  lies  helpless  and  motionless,  still 
there  is  on  her  lips  a  spirit  of  life,  and  on  her 
cheek  a  glow  of  beauty : 

•"Thou  rrt  not  conquered,  beauty's  ensign  yet 
Is  crimson  in  thy  lips  and  in  thy  cheeks, 
And  death's  pale  flag  is  not  advanced  there  ' 

While  a  plank  of  the  vessel  stands  together,  I 
will  not  leave  her.  Let  the  courtier  present  his 
flimsy  sail,  and  carry  the  light  bark  of  his  faith 
with  every  new  breath  of  wind;  I  will  remain  an- 
chored here  with  fidelity  to  the  fortunes  of  my 
country,  faithful  to  her  freedom,  faithful  to  her 


THE   GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  223 

fall."     These  were  the  last  words  of  Grattan  in 
the  Irish  Parliament. 

On  the  7th  of  June  the  Union  bill  was  to  be 
read  for  the  third  time.  Most  of  the  anti-Union- 
ists left  the  House  so  as  not  to  be  present  at  the 
destruction  of  the  nation.  "The  day  of  extin- 
guishing the  liberties  of  Ireland  had  now  arrived," 
writes  Sir  Jonah  Barrington,  a  contemporary 
chronicler,  "and  the  sun  took  his  last  view  of  in- 
dependent Ireland  ;  he  rose  no  more  over  a  proud 
and  prosperous  nation.  She  was  now  condemned 
by  the  British  Minister  to  renounce  her  rank 
amongst  the  states  of  Europe  ;  she  was  sentenced 
to  cancel  her  constitution,  to  disband  her  Com- 
mons, and  to  disfranchise  her  nobility,  to  proclaim 
her  incapacity,  and  register  her  corruption  in  the 
records  of  the  Empire.  The  Commons  House  of 
Parliament  on  the  last  eveningf  afforded  the  most 
melancholy  example  of  a  fine,  independent  peo- 
ple, betrayed,  divided,  sold,  and,  as  a  State,  anni- 
hilated. British  clerks  and  t^fficers  were  smug- 
gled into  her  Parliament  to  vote  away  the  consti- 
tution of  a  country  to  which  they  were  strangers, 
and  in  which  they  had  neither  interest  nor  con- 
necdon.  They  were  employed  to  cancel  the 
royal  charter  of  the  Irish  nation,  guaranteed  by 
the  British  government,  sanctioned  by  the  British 
Legislature,  and  unequivocally  confirmed  by  the 
words,  the  signature,  and  the  great  seal  of  their 
monarch. 


224  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

"  The  situation  of  the  Speaker  on  tliat  night  was 
of  the  most  distressing  nature.  A  sincere  and 
ardent  enemy  of  the  measure,  he  headed  its  op- 
ponents ;  he  resisted  it  with  all  the  power  of  his 
mind,  the  resources  of  his  experience,  his  Influence, 
and  his  eloquence. 

"  It  was,  however,  through  his  voice  that  it  was 
to  be  proclaimed  and  consummated.  His  only 
alternative  (resignation)  would  have  been  un- 
availing, and  could  have  added  nothing  to  his 
character.  His  expressive  countenance  bespoke 
the  inquietude  of  his  feeling ;  solicitude  was  per- 
ceptible in  every  glance,  and  his  embarrassment 
was  obvious  in  every  word  he  uttered. 

'* The  galleries  were  full;  but  the  change  was 
lamentable.  They  were  no  longer  crowded  with 
those  who  had  been  accustomed  to  witness  the 
eloquence  and  to  animate  the  debates  of  that  de- 
voted assembly.  A  monotonous  and  melancholy 
murmur  ran  through  the  benches ;  scarcely  a 
word  was  exchanged  amongst  the  members. 
Nobody  seemed  at  ease ;  no  cheerfulness  was  ap- 
parent, and  the  ordinary  business  for  a  short  time 
proceeded  in  the  usual  manner. 

"At  length  the  expected  moment  arrived.  The 
order  of  the  day — for  the  third  reading  of  the  bill 
for  a  '  Legislative  Union  between  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland ' — was  moved  by  Lord  Castlereagh. 
Unvaried,  tame,  cold-blooded — the  words  seemed 
frozen  as  they  issued  from  his  lips ;  and,  as  if  a 


lllE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  225 

simple  citizen  of  the  world,  he  seemed  to  have  no 
sensation  on  the  subject. 

"  The  Speaker,  Mr.  Foster,  who  was  one  of  the 
most  vehement  opponents  of  the  Union  from  first 
to  last,  would  have  risen  and  left  the  House  with 
his  friends,  if  he  could.  But  this  would  have 
availed  nothing.  With  grave  dignity  he  presided 
over  '  the  last  agony  of  the  expiring  Parliament.' 
He  held  up  the  bill  for  a  moment  in  silence,  then 
asked  the  usual  question,  to  which  the  response, 
'AyeJ  was  languid,  but  unmistakable.  Another 
momentary  pause  ensued.  Again  his  lips  seemed 
to  decline  their  office.  At  length,  with  an  eye 
averted  from  the  object  which  he  hated,  he  pro- 
claimed, with  a  subdued  voice,  'T/ie  ayes  have  it' 
For  an  instant  he  stood  statue-like ;  then,  indig- 
nantly and  in  disgust,  flung  the  bill  upon  the 
table,  and  sunk  into  his  chair  with  an  exhausted 
spirit." 

The  bill  passed  through  the  House  of  Lords  in 
spite  of  protests  from  some  of  its  ablest  members. 
On  the  1st  of  August  the  royal  assent  was  given, 
and  the  new  act  was  to  take  effect  from  January 
I  St,  1801.  So  ended  Ireland's  legislative  inde- 
pendence. The  following  pages  are  chiefly  cov- 
ered with  the  efforts  to  procure  its  restoration. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

AFTER   THE   UNION. 

THE  destruction  of  the  Irish  Parliament  was 
accompanied  by  several  acts  which  aggra- 
vated the  misfortune.  With  the  destruction  of 
Parliamentary  representation,  and,  above  all,  in 
the  distribution  of  debt,  Ireland  was  scandalously 
treated. 

The  strength  of  the  Irish  representation  in  the 
British  Parliament  was  settled  by  Lord  Casde- 
reagh  in  a  most  arbitrary,  not  to  say  contradic- 
tory, manner.  He  first  publicly  demonstrated 
that  the  number  of  Irish  representatives  endtled 
to  sit  in  the  British  Parliament  was  io8,  and  sub- 
sequently, for  no  specified  reason,  subtracted 
what  he  no  doubt  looked  upon  as  the  superfluous 
eight  and  decided  the  proper  number  was  the 
round  loo.  He  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that 
1 08  was  the  proper  number  thus:  In  the  relative 
population  of  the  two  countries,  taking  it  that 
Great  Britain  had  558,  that  for  the  propordonate 
population  of  Ireland  she  was  entitled  to  202 
representatives,  for  exports  100,  for  imports  93, 
for  revenue  39,  making  a  total  of  434,  and  taking 
226 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  227 

the  mean  of  these  quantities  it  makes  io8^. 
But  Castlereagh  omitted  from  his  calculations  all 
mention  of  the  Irish  rental,  an  admitted  factor  in 
Irish  questions  in  England.  If  rental  had  been 
taken  into  account,  the  Irish  representation  should 
have  been  i6g}4-  In  1821  the  question  was  again 
raised.  O'Connell  showed  that  Ireland  had  seven 
millions  to  England's  twelve  millions  of  popula- 
tion ;  and  that  on  this  basis  of  population  Ireland 
should  have  291  members;  and  that  taking  rev- 
enue and  population  as  joint  basis,  Ireland  should 
have  176  members.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  she 
never  since  the  Union  had  more  than  105. 

The  scheme  by  which  Ireland  was  cheated  in 
the  question  of  debts  is  well  summarized  in  the 
following  extracts  from  Mitchell's  "  History  of 
Ireland : " 

"In  181 6  was  passed  the  act  for  consolidating 
the  British  and  Irish  Exchequers — it  is  the  56th 
George  III,,  cap.  98.  It  became  operative  on  the 
1st  January,  181 7. 

"The  meaninsf  of  this  consolidation  was — 
charging  Ireland  with  the  whole  debt  of  England, 
pre-union  and  post-union ;  and  in  like  manner 
charging  England  with  the  whole  Irish  debt. 

"  Now,  the  enormous  English  national  debt, 
both  before  and  after  the  Union,  was  contracted 
for  purposes  which  Ireland  had  not  only  no  in- 
terest in  promoting,  but  a  direct  and  vital  interest 
in  contravening  and  resisting ;  that  is,  it  had  been 


228  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

contracted  to  crush  American  and  French  liberty, 
and  to  destroy  those  very  powers  which  were  the 
natural  allies  of  Ireland. 

"  But  this  is  not  all.  We  have  next  to  see  the 
proportions  which  the  two  debts  bore  to  each 
other.  It  will  be  remembered  that,  by  the  terms 
of  the  so-called  '  Union,' 

"I.  Ireland  was  to  be  protected  from  any  liabil- 
ity on  account  of  the  British  national  debt  con- 
tracted prior  to  the  Union. 

"  II.  The  separate  debt  of  each  country  being 
first  provided  for  by  a  separate  charge,  Ireland 
was  then  to  contribute  two-seventeenths  towards 
the  joint  or  common  expenditure  of  the  United 
Kingdom  for  twenty  years ;  after  which  her  con- 
tribution was  to  be  made  proportionate  to  her 
ability,  as  ascertained  at  stated  periods  of  revision 
by  certain  tests  specified  in  the  act. 

"  III.  Ireland  was  not  only  promised  that  she 
never  should  have  any  concern  with  the  then  ex- 
isting British  debt,  but  she  was  also  assured  that 
her  taxation  should  not  be  raised  to  the  standard 
of  Great  Britain  until  the  followino-  conditions 
should  occur: 

"  I.  That  the  two  debts  should  come  to  bear  to 

each  other  the  proportion  of  fifteen  parts  for 

Great  Britain  to  two  parts  for  Ireland;  and, 
•'  2.    That  the  respective  circumstances  of  the 

two    countries    should    admit    of    uniform 

taxation. 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE  229 

"It  must  be  further  borne  in  mind  that,  pre- 
vious to  the  Union,  the  national  debt  of  Ireland 
was  a  mere  trifle.  It  had  been  enormously  in- 
creased by  charging  to  Ireland's  special  account, 
first,  the  expenses  of  getting  up  the  rebellion; 
next,  the  expenses  of  suppressing  it ;  and,  lastly, 
the  expenses  of  bribing  Irish  noble  lords  and 
gendemen  to  sell  their  country  at  this  Union. 
Thus  the  Irish  debt,  which  before  the  Union  had 
been  less  than  three  millions  sterling,  was  set 
down  by  the  Act  of  Union  at  nearly  twenty-seven 
millions, 

•'On  the  20th  of  June,  1804  (four  years  after 
the  Union  had  passed),  Mr.  Foster,  Chancellor 
of  the  Irish  Exchequer,  observed,  that  whereas  in 
1794  the  Irish  debt  did  not  exceed  two  millions 
and  a  half,  it  had  in  1803  risen  to  forty-three  mil- 
lions; and  that  during  the  current  year  it  was 
increased  to  nearly  fifty-three  millions. 

"  During  the  long  and  cosdy  war  against  France, 
and  the  second  American  war,  it  happened,  by 
some  very  extraordinary  species  of  book-keeping, 
that  while  the  English  debt  was  not  quite  doubled, 
the  Irish  debt  was  more  than  quadrupled;  as  if 
Ireland  had  twice  the  interest  which  Engfland  had 
in  forcing  the  Bourbons  back  upon  France,  and 
in  destroying  the  commerce  of  America. 

"Thus,  in  18 1 6,  when  the  Consolidation  Act 
was  passed,  the  whole  funded  debt  of  Ireland  was 
found  to  be  ;^i 30,561,037.     By  this  management 


230  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

the  Irish  debt,  which  in  1801  had  been  to  the 
British  as  one  to  sixteen  and  a  half,  was  forced 
up  to  bear  to  the  British  debt  the  ratio  of  one 
to  seven  and  a  half.  This  was  the  proportion  re- 
quired by  the  Act  of  Union  as  a  condition  of  sub- 
jecting Ireland  to  indiscriminate  taxation  with 
Great  Britain. 

Mr.  Gladstone  sums  up  admirably  in  the  Liver- 
pool speech  already  quoted  the  immediate  con- 
sequences of  the  Union : 

"  How  have  we  atoned,"  he  asked,  "  since  the 
Union  for  what  we  did  to  bring  about  the  Union? 
Now,  mind,  I  am  making  my  appeal  to  the  honor 
of  Enelishmen.  I  want  to  show  to  Enorlishmen 
who  have  a  sense  of  honor  that  they  have  a  debt 
of  honor  that  remains  to  this  hour  not  fully  paid. 
The  Union  was  followed  by  these  six  conse- 
quences— firsdy,  broken  promises ;  secondly,  the 
passing  of  bad  laws ;  thirdly,  the  putting  down 
of  liberty;  fourthly,  the  withholding  from  Ireland 
benefits  that  w^e  took  to  ourselves;  fifthly,  the 
giving  to  force  and  to  force  only  what  we  ought 
to  have  given  to  honor  and  justice ;  and,  sixthly, 
the  removal  and  postponement  of  relief  to  the 
most  crying  grievances.  (Cheers.)  I  will  give 
you  the  proof  in  no  longer  space  than  that  in 
which  I  have  read  these  words.  Broken  promises 
— the  promises  of  the  Roman  Catholics  of  eman- 
cipation and  the  promise  of  endowment.  Eman- 
cipation was  never  given  for  twenty-nine  years. 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  231 

It  would  have  been  orlven  if  the  Irish  Parliament 
had  remained — you  would  have  been  given  it  in 
the  time  of  Lord  Fitzwilliam.  It  was  never  given 
for  twenty-nine  years  after  the  Union,  but  no 
endowment.  Well,  you  will  say,  and  I  should 
say,  *  for  that  I  cannot  be  sorry.'  (Cheers.)  I 
cannot  wish  that  the  Roman  Catholics  should 
have  received  endowment.  But  on  the  other 
hand,  it  was  a  base  thing  to  break  your  promises 
to  them.  Passing  bad  laws — yes,  slow  as  it  was 
to  pass  good  laws,  the  English  Parliament  could 
pass  bad  laws  quick  enough.  In  1815  it  passed 
a  law  most  oppressive  to  the  Irish  tenant.  It  was 
the  only  law  relating  to  the  Irish  land  of  any  con- 
sequence that  ever  received  serious  attention 
until  the  year  1870.  Restraint  of  liberty.  What 
happened  after  the  Union?  In  1800  the  people 
met  largely  in  Dublin.  Almost  all  the  Roman 
Catholics  of  wealth  and  influence  in  the  country, 
and  a  great  deal  of  the  Protestant  power,  too, 
met  in  Dublin  for  the  purpose  of  protesting 
against  the  Union.  Not  the  slightest  heed  was 
given  to  their  protest.  In  1820  there  was  a 
county  meeting  of  the  shire  of  Dublin  for  the 
purpose  of  paying  compliments  to  George  IV. 
The  people  moved  a  counter-resolution  and  this 
counter-resolution  complained  of  the  Act  of 
Union.  The  sheriff  refused  to  hear  them,  re- 
fused to  put  their  motion,  left  the  room,  and  sent 
in  the  soldiers  to  break  up  a  peaceful  county 


232  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

meeting.  (Shame.)  Oh,  it  is  shame,  indeed. 
Fourthly,  they  withheld  from  Ireland  what  we 
took  ourselves.  We  took  the  franchise.  The 
franchise  in  Ireland  remained  a  very  restricted 
franchise  until  last  year.  In  England  it  had  been 
largely  extended,  as  you  know,  by  the  Acts  of 
1867  and  1868.  In  England  you  thoroughly  re- 
formed your  municipalities,  and  have  true  popular 
bodies,  but  in  Ireland  the  number  of  them  was 
cut  down  to  twelve,  and  after  a  battle  of  six  years, 
during  which  Parliament  had  to  spend  the  chief 
part  of  its  time  upon  the  work,  I  think  about 
twelve  municipalities  were  constituted  in  Ireland 
with  highly  restricted  powers.  Inequality  was 
branded  upon  Ireland  at  every  step.  Education 
was  established  in  this  country,  denominational 
education,  right  and  left,  according  as  the  people 
desired  it ;  but  in  Ireland  denominational  educa- 
tion was  condemned,  and  until  within  the  last  few 
years  it  was  not  possible  for  any  Roman  Catholic 
to  obtain  a  deeree  in  Ireland  if  he  had  received 
his  education  in  a  denominational  college. 

"Such  is  the  system  of  inequality  under  which 
Ireland  w^as  governed.  We  have  given  only  to 
fear  what  we  ouorht  to  have  oriven  to  justice.  I 
refer  to  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  who,  in  1821, 
himself  said  with  a  manly  candor,  that  the  fear 
of  civil  war  and  nothing  else  was  the  motive  for, 
I  might  almost  say,  for  his  coercing  the  House  of 
Lords,  certainly  for  bringing  the  House  of  Lords, 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  233 

to  vote  a  change  which  it  was  well  known  that 
the  large  majority  of  them  utterly  detested.   Well, 
sixthly,  we  shamefully  postponed   the  relief  of 
crying  grievances — yes,  we  shamefully  postponed 
it.     In   1 815  we  passed  an  act  to  make  infinitely 
less  independent  the  position  of  the  Irish  tenant. 
Not  till   1843  did  we  inquire  into  his  condition. 
Sir  Robert   Peel  has   the   honor  of  having   ap- 
pointed   the    Devon    Commission — that    Devon 
Commission  represented  that  a  large  number  of 
the  population  of  Ireland  were  submitting  with 
exemplary  and  marvellous  patience — ^these  peo- 
ple whom  we  are  told  you  cannot  possibly  trust 
— were  submitting  with  marvellous  and  unintel- 
ligible  patience  to  a  lot  more  bitter  and  deplora-' 
ble  than  the  lot  of  any  people  in  the  civilized  world. 
Sir  James  Graham  in  the  House  of  Commons  ad- 
mitted that  the  description  applied  to  three  and 
a  half  millions   of    the   people    of    Ireland,  and 
yet  with  all  that  we  went  on  certainly  doing  a 
great  deal  of  good,  improving  the  legislation  of 
this  country  in  a  wonderful  manner,  especially  by 
the  great   struggle  of  Free  Trade,  but  not  till 
1870  was  the   first  effort  made — seventy  years 
after  the  Union — to  administer  in  any  serious  de- 
gree to  the  wants  of  the  Irish  tenant,  the  Irish 
occupier — that  means  in  fact  the  wants  and  ne- 
cessities of  the  mass  of  the  people  of  Ireland. 
(Cheers.)     I  say  that  that  is  a  deplorable  narra- 
tive, it  Is  a  narrative  which  cannot  be  shaken.     I 
14 


234  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

have  been  treading  upon  ground  that  our  an« 
tagonists  carefully  avoid.  It  is  idle  to  say  that 
we  have  done  some  good  to  Ireland.  Yes,  we 
have  done  some  good  to  Ireland  by  the  Land  Act 
of  1870  and  1881,  and  by  the  Disestablishment 
of  the  Irish  Church  we  have  done  some  good  to 
Ireland,  and  by  the  Enlargement  of  Maynooth 
grants  Sir  Robert  Peel  did  good  to  Ireland. 
Yes,  and  it  is  the  success  of  these  very  acts 
alone  that  the  Paper  Unionists  can  claim  as 
showing  that  we  have  done  good  to  Ireland. 
These  very  acts  are  down  to  the  present  day 
denounced  by  the  tory  party — the  Church  Act  as 
sacrilege,  the  Land  Act  as  confiscation.  (Cheers.) 
I  humbly  say  it  is  time  that  we  should  bethink 
ourselves  of  this  question  of  honor  and  see  how 
the  matter  stands,  and  set  very  seriously  about 
the  duty,  the  sacred  duty,  the  indispensable  and 
overpowering  duty  of  effacing  from  history,  if 
efface  them  we  can,  these  terrible  stains  which  the 
acts  of  England  have  left  upon  the  fame  of 
England,  and  which  constitute  the  debt  of  honor 
to  Ireland  that  it  is  high  time  to  consider  and  to 
pay." 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  first  charge 
of  Mr.  Gladstone  against  the  Union,  that  of 
broken  promises  with  reference  to  Catholic 
emancipation.  The  second  charge  is  that  of 
making  bad  laws,  which  for  the  most  part  were  ap- 
plied to  the  occupation  of  land.     The  new  Parlia- 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGEE.  235 

ment  had  scarcely  been  in  existence  twenty  years 
when  already  there  had  been  passed  a  whole 
new  code  of  laws,  the  main  purpose  of  which 
was  to  enable  landlords  to  get  rid  of  their  ten- 
ants at  the  very  earliest  moment  possible.  In 
1816  an  act  was  passed  which  gave  the  landlords 
power  they  never  had  before  to  distrain.  Under 
this  act  the  landlords  were  able  to  do  things  that 
must  be  astonishing  to  Americans  with  their 
protection  in  the  homestead  laws  for  a  man's 
household  and  instruments  of  labor. 

Under  the  statute  referred  to  the  landlord  had 
the  power  to  seize  growing  crops,  to  keep  them 
till  reaped,  to  save  and  sell  them  when  reaped, 
and  to  charge  upon  the  tenant  the  accumulation 
of  expenses.  Under  this  act  the  landlord  had 
the  power  to  ruin  the  tenant  by  seizing  his 
growing  crop.  A-.nother  statute,  however,  was 
necessary  to  complete  the  authority  of  the  land- 
lord and  the  helplessness  of  the  tenant.  Under 
an  act  passed  in  1818  the  landlord  received  the 
power  to  turn  his  tenant  out  of  his  holding. 

Act  followed  act  then,  in  quick  succession,  for 
the  purpose  of  making  eviction  easy.  Under 
one,  for  instance,  if  a  landlord  brought  an  action 
against  a  tenant  for  ejectment,  he  had  the  power 
to  make  the  tenant  give  security  for  costs.  The 
working  of  this  was  that  he  did  not  have  money 
saved  sufficient  to  defend  a  case.  The  case  was 
adjudicated  against  him  as  though  he  had  no  de- 


236  GLADSTONE— PARN  ELI, 

fence.  In  other  words  In  the  condition  in  which 
the  Irish  farmers  then  were,  this  act  gave  the 
landlord  a  certainty  of  a  verdict  in  Jiis  favor  in 
all  cases  in  which  he  'might  care  to  go  to  law. 
Then  another  act  diminished  the  time  which  could 
elapse  between  the  landlord  obtaining  his  verdict 
and  the  tenant  leaving  his  fields  and  house. 
Thus  at  every  point  the  landlord  was  armed  cap- 
a-pie  ;  the  tenant  was  defenceless.  Never  in  the 
history  of  mankind  was  there  a  code  more  com- 
plete in  the  interests  of  one  class  and  against 
the  interests  of  another.  The  law  was  well 
summed  up  by  an  Irish  judge.  "The  entire 
landlord  and  tenant  code,"  said  Baron  Penne- 
father,  "o^oes  to  orive  increased  facilities  to  the 
landlords."  It  should  be  remarked,  too,  that  these 
laws  were  not  only  different  from  the  laws  of  all 
other  civilized  countries  in  enablinor  the  landlord 
to  throw  the  tenant  and  his  family  on  the  world 
starving  and  penniless,  but  they  were  different 
even  from  laws  passed  in  the  landlords'  favor  by 
the  landlords  of  England.  "  The  laws,"  said  Mr. 
W.  Pickens,  in  his  "  Economy  of  Ireland,"  "  in  the 
landlords'  favor  are  already  more  summary  and 
stronger  than  they  are  in  England,  and  he  is  yet 
calling  for  additional  assistance." 

The  tenant  then,  in  Ireland,  stood  in  a  unique 
position.  Forming  as  he  did  more  than  half 
the  population  he  was  left  absolutely  at  the 
mercy  of  the   landlord.     Ignorant  and  timid  in 


THE  GREAT  IRISH  STRUGGLE.  237 

most  cases  he  had  never  gone  more  than  a  few 
miles  beyond  the  limits  of  his  own  farm;  he  had 
never  learned  any  occupation  but  that  of  farming. 
In  other  countries  he  could  find  in  a  near  town  a 
factory  which  opened  wide  its  doors  to  willing  la- 
bor.  But,  as  has  been  seen,  the  Union  had  com- 
pleted the  work  that  the  laws  of  the  Imperial 
Parliament  had  begun.  Manufactories  were 
in  ruins ;  the  looms  were  silent ;  the  artisan 
either  fled  to  other  countries  or  remained  in  the 
towns  to  increase  the  ever-growing  army  of  deso- 
lation. To  the  peasant,  then,  eviction  meant 
emigration,  if  by  some  lucky  chance  the  landlord 
had  left  him  so  much  money  as  would  pay  for 
his  passage  to  America,  and  in  the  vast  majority 
of  cases  the  tenant  had  to  starve  or  enter  the 
work-house.  To  be  allowed  to  remain  in  his 
farm  was  life ;  to  be  evicted  was  death.  The 
landlord  then,  by  the  code  of  the  Imperial  Parlia- 
ment, was  given  power  of  life  or  death  over  the 
tenant. 

It  has  already  been  shown  how  this  terrible  au- 
thority, for  which  no  body  of  men  would  be  fitted, 
was  especially  dangerous  in  the  hands  of  such  a 
body  as  the  Irish  landlords  had  become  under  the 
Union.  Every  day  they  were  more  and  more 
divorced  from  the  people  in  sympathy  and  in 
interest,  and  thus  it  was  that  the  Irish  landlords 
perpetrated  upon  the  Irish  tenants  cruelties  that 
seem,  doings  of  human  beings  without  hearts  to 


238  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

feel,  and  without  consciences  to  reproach.  It  has 
been  seen  through  various  quotations  from  the 
days  of  Spenser  down  to  those  of  Lord  Clare, 
who  helped  to  carry  the  Union,  that  the  landlords 
had  shamefully  rack-rented  their  tenants  during 
all  their  history.  The  reader  will  not  forget  such 
sentences  as  these.  Edmund  Spenser  said  :  "  The 
landlords  there  most  shamefully  rack  their  ten- 
ants." Dean  Swift  uses  these  words :  "  Rents 
squeezed  out  of  the  blood  and  vitals  and  clothes 
and  dwellings  of  the  tenants,  who  live  worse  than 
English  beggars."  To  these  may  be  added  two 
quotations,  the  one  from  a  great  American  and 
the  other  from  a  great  English  writer.  Benjamin 
Franklin  said :  "  The  bulk  of  the  people  are  ten- 
ants, extremely  poor,  living  in  the  most  sordid 
wretchedness,  in  dirty  hovels  of  mud  and  straw, 
and  clothed  only  in  rags.  .  .  .  Had  I  never  been 
in  the  American  colonies,  but  were  to  form  my 
judgment  of  civil  society  by  what  I  have  lately 
seen,  I  should  never  advise  a  nation  of  savages  to 
admit  of  civilization,  for  1  assure  you  that  in  the 
possession  and  enjoyment  of  the  various  comforts 
of  life,  compared  to  these  people,  every  Indian  is 
a  gentleman,  and  the  effect  of  this  kind  of  civiliza- 
tion seems  to  be  the  depressing  multitudes  below 
the  savage  state,  that  a  few  may  be  raised  above 
it." 

Arthur  Young  wrote :  "  It  must  be  very  ap- 
parent to  every  traveller  through  the  country  that 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  239 

the  laboring  poor  are  treated  with  harshness,  and 
are  in  all  respects  so  little  considered,  that  their 
want  of  importance  seems  a  perfect  contrast  to 
their  situation  in  England.  A  long  series  of  op- 
pressions, aided  by  many  ill-judged  laws,  have 
brought  landlords  into  a  habit  of  exerting  a  very 
lofty  superiority,  and  their  vassals  into  that  of  an 
almost  unlimited  submission ;  speaking  a  lan- 
guage that  is  despised,  professing  a  religion  that 
is  abhorred,  and  being  disarmed,  the  poor  find 
themselves  in  many  cases  slaves  even  in  the 
bosom  of  W7'itte7t  liberty." 

But  evil  as  was  the  system  before  the  Union,  it 
became  still  worse  after  the  Union,  when  the 
landlords  had  no  longer  the  Irish  population 
around  them  to  look  on  in  reproach  and  gradually 
to  punish  by  the  use  of  constitutional  weapons. 
One  of  the  main  causes  of  this  was  the  increase 
of  absenteeism.  On  this  subject  we  have  abun- 
dant material  for  forming  a  judgment.  In  a  well- 
known  work — "  Dalton's  History  of  the  County 
Dublin  " — a  comparative  table  is  drawn  up  of  the 
annual  absentee  rental:  1691,  ^136,018;  1729, 
;£627,799;  1782,  ^2,223,222;  1783,  ^1,608,932; 
1804,  ^3,000,000;  1830,  ;^4,ooo,ooo;  1838,^5,- 
000,000. 

Absentee  landlords  naturally  had  no  feeling 
about  their  tenants  except  that  of  drawing  as 
much  money  from  them  as  they  could.  And  this 
is  one  of  the  many  reasons  why  the  Irish  landlord 


240  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

compares  unfavorably  with  the  English  landlord. 
In  Eneland,  with  all  his  faults,  the  landlord  is  al- 
ways  conscious  of  the  sense  of  his  social  obliga- 
tions to  his  tenantry.  Thus  in  hard  times  the 
English  landlord  and  the  English  farmer  have 
managed  to  divide  their  loss  between  them,  and 
in  sickness  and  misery  the  children  of  the  English 
farmer  or  of  the  English  laborer  have  been  vis- 
ited by  the  Ladies  Bountiful  of  the  landlord's 
house.  But  in  Ireland  the  absentee-landlord 
never  saw  his  tenants.  To  him  they  were  mere 
ciphers,  representing  so  much  money  for  his 
interests  and  his  pleasures. 

Testimony  is  unanimous  as  to  the  terrible  state 
of  things  which  was  in  this  manner  brought  about; 
and  the  testimony  is  often  strongest  from  English 
pens*  "  Landlords  in  Ireland,  among  the  lesser 
orders,  extort  exorbitant  rents  out  of  the  bowels, 
sweat  and  rags  of  the  poor,  and  then  turn  them 
adrift ;  they  are  corrupt  magistrates  and  jobbing 
grand-jurors,  oppressing  and  plundering  the  mis- 
erable people." — Bryan's  View  of  Ireland. 

"  The  Irish  country  gentleman,"  says  the  Dub- 
lin Pilot  of  1833,  "is,  we  are  sorry  to  say,  the 
most  incorrigible  being  that  infests  the  face  of  tlvi 
globe.  In  the  name  of  law  he  tramples  on  jus- 
tice ;  boasting  of  superiority  of  Christian  creed, 
he  violates  Christian  charity — is  mischievous  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord."  So  speak  these  writers 
about  the  Irish  landlord. 


THE  GREAT  IRISH  STRUGGLE  241 

The  House  of  Commons  Committee  of  1824, 
after  having  carefully  taken  the  evidence,  said: 
"  The  situation  of  the  ejected  tenantry,  or  of  those 
who  are  obliged  to  give  up  their  small  holdings 
in  order  to  promote  the  consolidation  of  farms,  is 
necessarily  most  deplorable.     It  would  be  impos- 
sible for  language  to  convey  an  idea  of  the  state 
of  distress  to  which  the  ejected  tenantry  have 
been  reduced,  or  of  the  disease,  misery  or  evea 
vice  which   they   have    propagated   where   they 
have  settled ;  so  that  not  only   they  who  have 
been  ejected  have  been  rendered  miserable,  but 
they  have  carried  with  them  and  propagated  that 
misery.     They  have  increased  the  stock  of  labor, 
they  have  rendered  the  habitations  of  those  who 
have   received   them    more    crowded,  they  have 
given  occasion   to  the  dissemination  of  disease, 
they  have  been  obliged  to  resort  to  theft  and  all 
manner  of  vice  and  iniquity  to  procure  subsist- 
ence ;  but  what  is  perhaps  the  most  painful  of 
all,   a  vast  number  of   them  have  perished   of 
want." 

By-and-by  will  be  seen  the  terrible  Nemesis 
which  came  upon  the  Irish  people  owing  to  a 
flagrant  violation  of  all  law  and  all  sense  in  these 
proceedings.  This  state  of  affairs,  attested  to  by 
the  statements  of  travellers  and  the  evidences 
given  before  committees,  laid  the  foundation  for 
one  of  the  most  wide-spread  and  horrible  famines 
in   human    history.      Meantime,   what    had    the 


242  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Imperial  Parliament  been  doing?  Despite  all 
the  testimony  of  travellers,  despite  all  the  evi- 
dence of  witnesses,  in  spite  of  all  the  reports  of 
committees,  Parliament  refused  to  do  one  single 
thing,  to  pass  one  single  act  for  the  relief  of  the 
Irish  tenant. 

All  this  time  the  Imperial  Parliament  had  been 
busy  with  another  form  of  legislation.  The  Act 
of  Union  had  been  passed  in  spite  of  the  wishes 
of  the  Irish  people.  It  was  a  government  of 
tyranny  and  not  of  Union,  and  accordingly  it  pro- 
voked revolts  and  had  to  be  maintained  by  the 
same  methods  as  are  sacred  to  despotism  through- 
out all  the  world's  history.  The  landlords,  driv- 
ing out  a  number  of  starving  and  desperate 
wretches  upon  the  world  without  the  protection 
of  the  laws  or  hope  from  the  legislature,  turned 
them  into  criminals  of  the  most  desperate  char- 
acter. Wholesale  eviction  led  to  the  formation 
of  secret  societies  in  which  the  tenant  sought  to 
inspire  in  the  mind  of  the  landlord  that  fear  of 
wrong-doing  and  cruelty  which  under  a  native 
legislature  would  have  been  imposed  by  the  laws. 

With  these  inevitable  outbreaks  of  frenzy,  igno- 
rance and  despair  the  Imperial  Parliament  showed 
itself  extraordinarily  ready  to  deal,  but  always  in 
the  same  senseless  and  heartless  way.  Coercion 
Act  followed  Coercion  Act.  In  1800,  1801,  1802, 
1803,  1804  and  1805  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  was 
suspended.     It  was  again  suspended  from  1807  to 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  243 

1810;  from  1814  to  1817;  from  1822  to  1828; 
from  1829  to  1831;  from  1833  to  1835.  There 
were  in  addition  several  other  and  special  Coer- 
cion Acts.  Often  there  were  two  Coercion  Acts 
enforced  In  the  same  year.  In  the  first  year  of 
the  Union  five  exceptional  laws  were  passed. 
Many  of  these  acts  abolished  trial  by  jury,  some 
established  martial  law.  Transportation,  flog- 
ging, death  were  the  common  sentences. 

We  will  now  draw  up  a  list  of  the  Coercion 
Acts,  passed  during  the  Act  of  Union: 

1800  to  1805.  Habeas  Corpus  Suspension. 
Seven  Coercion  Acts. 

1807.  February  ist,  Coercion  Act.  Habeas 
Corpus  Suspension.  August  2d,  Insurrection 
Act. 

1808-9.     Habeas  Corpus  Suspension. 

1 8 14  to  18 1 6.  Habeas  Corpus  Suspension. 
Insurrection  Act. 

1 81 7.  Habeas  Corpus  Suspension.  One 
Coercion  Act. 

1822  to  1830.  Habeas  Corpus  Suspension. 
Two  Coercion  Acts  in  1822,  and  one  in  1823. 

1830.  Importation  of  Arms  Act. 

1 83 1.  Whiteboy  Act. 

1 83 1.  Stanley's  Arms  Act. 

1832.  Arms  and  Gunpowder  Act. 

1833.  Suppression  of  Disturbance. 

1833.  Change  of  Venue  Act. 

1834.  Disturbances,  Amendment,  and  Con- 
tinuance. 


244  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

1834.  Arms  and  Gunpowder  Act. 

1835.  Public  Peace  Act. 

1836.  Another  Arms  Act. 

1838.  Another  Arms  Act. 

1839.  Unlawful  Oaths  Act. 

1840.  Another  Arms  Act. 

1 841.  Outrages  Act. 

1 841.  Another  Arms  Act. 

1843.  Another  Arms  Act. 

1 843.  Act  Consolidating  all  Previous  Coercion 
Acts. 

1844.  Unlawful  Oaths  Act. 

1845.  Additional    Constables    near    Public 
Works  Act. 

1845.  Unlawful  Oaths  Act. 

1846.  Constabulary  Enlargement. 

1847.  Crime  and  Outrage  Act. 

1848.  Treason  Amendment  Act. 
1848.  Removal  of  Arms  Act. 

1848.  Suspension  of  Habeas  Corpus. 

1848.  Another  Oaths  Act. 

1849.  Suspension  of  Habeas  Corpus. 

1850.  Crime  and  Outrage  Act. 

1851.  Unlawful  Oaths  Act. 

1853.  Crime  and  Outrage  Act. 

1854.  Crime  and  Outrage  Act. 

1855.  Crime  and  Outrage  Act. 

1856.  Peace  Preservation  Act. 
1858.  Peace  Preservation  Act. 
i860.  Peace  Preservation  Act. 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  245 

1862.     Peace  Preservation  Act. 
1862.     Unlawful  Oaths  Act. 

1865.  Peace  Preservation  Act 

1^66.  Suspension  of  Habeas  Corpus  Act. 

1866.  Suspension  of  -Habeas  Corpus. 

1867.  Suspension  of  Habeas  Corpus. 
18-68.  Suspension  of  Habeas  Corpus. 

1870.  Peace  Preservation  Act. 

1 87 1.  Protection  of  Life  and  Property. 
1 871.     Peace  Preservation  Con. 

1873.    Peace  Preservation  Act. 
1875.     Peace  Preservation  Act. 
1875.     Unlawful  Oaths  Act. 
1 88 1  to  1882.     Peace  Preservation  Act  (sus- 
pending Habeas  Corpus). 

1 88 1  to  1886.     Arms  Act. 

1882  to  1885.     Crimes  Act. 
1-886  to  1887.     Arms  Act. 

Under  a  system  like  this  it  was  inevitable  that 
there  should  be  discontent ;  and,  whenever  there 
seemed  even  a  chance  of  success,  open  rebellion. 
In  most  of  the  active  insurrections  Irish  Protes- 
tants took  a  leading  part.  Of  the  heroic  men 
who  sacrificed  their  lives  to  rescue  their  country 
from  the  dread  evils  that  the  Act  of  Union  was 
inflicting  upon  it  the  best  remembered  is  Robert 
Emmet.  Emmet  was  a  young  man  of  good  family 
and  position ;  and  had  inherited  from  his  father 
what  was  considered  a  good  fortune  in  those 
days.     In  conjunction  with  Thomas  Addis  Emmet, 


246  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

who  Still  is  remembered  as  one  of  New  York's 
greatest  lawyers — he  and  several  other  Protes- 
tants attempted  a  rebellion  ;  the  rebellion  failed, 
and  he  was  hanged  in  Thomas  street,  Dublin. 
The  spot  is  still  pointed  out ;  is  the  object  of 
reverent  attention  ;  and  the  memory  of  Emmet  is 
celebrated  every  year  in  almost  all  the  important 
cities  of  America. 

Meantime  the  condition  of  the  country  grew 
worse  from  day  to  day.  In  1817  there  was  an 
extensive  famine ;  and  it  is  recorded  that  the 
people  in  several  parts  of  the  country  were  well 
content  to  live  on  boiled  nettles.  In  1822  there 
was  an  even  severer  and  more  extensive  famine. 
Sir  John  Newport,  a  well-known  and  prominent 
member  of  the  Imperial  Parliament,  attempted 
over  and  over  again  to  extort  some  attention 
from  the  Legislature  to  the  dreadful  state  of 
things  in  Ireland.  He  pointed  out  that  in  one 
parish  fifteen  had  already  died  of  hunger;  that 
twenty-eight  more  were  past  recovery;  that  120 
were  down  in  famine  fever.  He  went  on  to 
state  another  fact  which  throws  a  lurid  light  on 
the  state  to  which  the  Union  had  reduced  the 
Irish  people ;  in  one  parish  he  said  the  priest  had 
given  extreme  unction — the  sacrament  which  is 
administered  in  the  Catholic  Church  to  those 
only  who  are  in  almost  certain  danger  of  imme- 
diate death — to  every  man,  woman  and  child  in 
the  place ;    every  one  of  them    he    expected  to 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  247 

die.  But  the  Imperial  Parliament,  which  had 
undertaken  the  government  of  Ireland,  had  no 
remedy  to  offer  for  this  state  of  things.  A  com- 
mittee was  appointed ;  evidence  was  taken,  some 
specimens  of  which  have  already  been  quoted; 
but  the  one  thing  the  Legislature  had  to  offer  as 
a  remedy  for  the  national  disease  of  hunger  w^as 
a  small  grant  of  money  in  the  shape  of  alms. 
The  close  of  the  war  with  Napoleon  aggravated 
all  the  evils  from  which  the  Irish  farmer  was 
suffering,  by  causing  a  great  depreciation  in  the 
price  of  agricultural  produce ;  and  also  by  the 
removal  of  the  one  reason  the  British  authorities 
had  for  being  ordinarily  civil  to  the  Irish  nation. 
And  thus  the  country  went  down  deeper  daily  in 
the  slough  of  poverty,  despond,  despair.  Taxes 
were  rising,  rents  increasing.  The  drain  on  the 
country  through  absenteeism  in  each  successive 
year  became  larger,  and  entire  or  partial  famine 
followed  each  other  at  shorter  intervals  and 
with  intensified  suffering.  The  picture  is  com- 
pleted by  the  passage  of  Coercion  laws  in  the 
abundance  already  set  forth,  so  as  to  stifle  the 
voice  of  impatient  and  savage  hunger,  and  by  the 
sanguinary  crimes  in  which  tiger  passions  and 
tiger  appetites  avenged  or  sought  to  protect 
themselves.  The  assizes  rarely  ended  without 
the  hanging  of  seyeral  unhappy  peasants.  The 
fate  of  the  Irish  peasant  came  to  this ;  he 
begged  the  right  to  eat  two  meals  of  potatoes 


248  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

and  salt  in  his  own  land  and  out  of  the  earnings 
of  his  own  arms  and  capital.  For  potatoes  were 
all  that  the  landlords  left  to  the  consumption  of 
the  tenants  ;  occasionally  the  pheasant  was  refused 
even  this  small  privilege ;  with  wife  and  child  was 
put  on  the  roadside  to  die.  Then  he  went  to 
the  assassination  lodge ;  and  risked,  and  perhaps 
lost,  life  to  defend  the  right  to  two  meals  of  po- 
tatoes daily. 

This  tale  of  wrong,  poverty  and  hopeless  mis- 
ery became  so  loud  and  plain  that  in  1810  the 
Repeal  of  the  Union,  Jthe  fatal  act  by  which  the 
sufferings  of  the  country  had  been  so  terribly  ag- 
gravated, was  demanded  at  a  great  meeting  in  the 
city  of  Dublin,  at  which  ProteiJtants  and  Catholics 
joined  in  equally  fervent  denunciation  of  the  de- 
struction of  the  Irish  Parliament.  But  the  demand 
fell  upon  deaf  ears,  and  that  policy  was  plainly 
hopeless.  B^y  a  number  of  circumstances  not  re- 
quiring elaborate  description.  Catholic  Emancipa- 
tion was  held  to  be  a  more  practicable  reform, 
and  was  pushed  to  the  front  of  all  other  Irish 
demands.  The  leader  of  this  great  movement 
was  Daniel  O'Connell.  O'Connell  is  one  of  his- 
tory's most  marvellous  products.  In  physique  he 
had  the  stamp  of  strength  and  greatness.  Tall, 
brawny,  muscular,  active,  he  was  of  dauntless 
courage,  of  exhaustless  industry,  of  never-sleeping 
energy.  His  oratory,  perhaps,  has  received  more 
unanimous  and  more  lofty  eulogy  than  that  of  any 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL.  THE  GREAT  IRISH   AGITATOR. 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  251 

Other  leader  in  history.  He  was  equally  potent 
with  a  great  monster  gathering  of  his  own  people 
on  the  Irish  hillside  and  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, surrounded  by  foes  and  compelled  to  ad- 
here most  closely  to  dry  statement  of  fact.  He 
had  every  quality  of  the  orator — an  abounding 
humor,  immense  powers  of  pathos,  close  reason- 
ing, masterly  preparation  and  skilful  presentation 
of  facts.  Laughter  and  tears  followed  each  other 
in  rapid  succession  when  he  addressed  his  own 
people,  and  when  he  confronted  opponents  there 
was  no  fallacy  which  he  was  not  able  to  pierce 
and  annihilate.  In  addition  to  all  this  he  had 
great  organizing  genius.  Above  all  things,  he 
was  rich  in  the  orator's  mightiest  weapon  ;  his 
voice  was  like  the  sound  of  some  strange  music ; 
powerful  as  an  organ — as  varied  in  tone  as  the 
violin ;  as  artfully  modulated  as  the  throat  of  the 
p7Hma  dojma.  Armed  with  the  single  weapon  of 
his  tongue  alone,  he  achieved  some  of  the  great- 
est victories  of  history.  For  nearly  half  a  century 
he  exercised  over  a  race,  mobile,  impatient,  often 
desperate,  a  dictatorship  as  complete  as  ever  Czar 
has  been  able  to  wield  by  the  aid  of  multitudinous 
armies,  vast  fleets,  ubiquitous  police.  He  wrung 
from  the  greatest  and  the  most  hostile  Ministers, 
and  from  the  even  more  violently  hostile  King  of 
England,  one  of  the  greatest  triumphs  of  modern 
politics.  He  was  able  to  raise  the  income  of  a 
principality  from  his  self-ordained  subjects,  and  he 

15 


252  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

was  able  finally  to  soar  away  from  all  rivals  as  an 
Alpine  mountain  from  the  plains  below. 

The  final  event  that  precipitated  Catholic  eman- 
cipation was  the  Clare  election.  In  England 
when  a  member  of  Parliament  accepts  a  high 
office  he  has  to  vacate  his  seat,  and  submit  him- 
self once  more  to  his  constituency.  Mr.  Vesey 
Fitzgerald,  the  member  for  County  Clare,  had 
been  appointed  to  the  presidency  of  the  Board  of 
Trade.  He  was  a  popular  Irishman,  a  good  land- 
lord, a  staunch  friend  to  Catholic  claims,  and  of 
personally  estimable  character.  But  some  daring 
spirit  suggested  that  the  great  Agitator  himself 
should  stand  for  the  vacancy.  It  was  known  that, 
as  a  Catholic,  he  could  not  take  his  seat ;  but  it 
was  assumed  that  the  experiment  would  bring 
things  to  a  crisis,  and  compel  the  wavering  gov- 
ernment finally  to  yield.  After  a  contest  of  un- 
exampled excitement,  O'Connell  was  returned. 
The  world  was  astounded  ;  the  Orange  party  in 
Ireland  was  driven  almost  out  of  its  senses,  and 
statesmen  at  last  saw  that  Catholic  emancipation 
could  no  longer  be  delayed.  O'Connell  after  an 
interval  presented  himself  at  the  bar  of  the  House 
of  Commons.  He  was  asked  to  take  the  oath 
which  was  still  in  existence.  This  oath  declared 
that  the  King  of  England  was  head  of  the  Church 
and  that  "  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass  was  impious 
and  idolatrous."  It  was  an  oath  which  of  course 
no  Catholic  could  take,  and  O'Connell  rejected 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  253 

it.  He  was  refused  admission  ;  and  when  finally 
Catholic  emancipation  was  carried,  the  English 
ministers  took  a  last  and  a  mean  revenge  by 
tacking  on  a  provision  which  prevented  the  act 
from  being  retrospective,  and  thereby  compelled 
O'Connell  to  be  elected  over  again. 

So  ended  the  first  great  struggle  after  the 
Union.  Ireland  gave  herself  up  to  a  delirium  of 
joy;  O'Connell  was  idolized;  w^as  given  the 
sobriquet  of  the  Liberator,  by  which  he  was  pop- 
ularly known  for  the  rest  of  his  life ;  and  it  was 
supposed  that,  after  the  long  night,  the  sun  of 
Ireland  was  at  last  high  in  the  heavens.  In  the 
next  chapter  it  will  be  seen  how  bitterly  these 
hopes  were  disappointed  ;  how  the  real  roots  of 
Irish  maladies  were  untouched  ;  how  the  disease 
went  on  getting  aggravated  until  it  ended  in  one 
of  the  most  awful  tragedies  in  history. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    GREAT   FAMINE. 

THE  dreadful  famine  of  1845  ^^^  only  the 
culmination  of  evils.  The  distress  of  the 
country  for  many  years  had  been  great.  It  was 
officially  reported  in  1824  "  that  a  very  consider- 
able proportion  of  the  population,  variously  esti- 
mated at  a  fourth  or  a  fifth  of  the  whole,  is  con- 
sidered to  be  out  of  employment ;  that  this, 
combined  with  the  consequences  of  an  altered 
system  of  managing  land,  produces  misery  and 
suffering  which  no  language  can  possibly  describe, 
and  which  it  Is  necessary  to  witness  in  order  fully 
to  estimate.  The  situation  of  the  ejected  ten- 
antry, or  of  those  who  are  obliged  to  give  up 
their  small  holdings  in  order  to  promote  the  con- 
solidation of  farms,  is  most  deplorable.  It  would 
be  impossible  for  language  to  convey  an  idea  of 
the  state  of  distress  to  which  the  ejected  tenantry 
have  been  reduced,  or  of  the  disease,  misery,  or 
even  vice  which  they  have  propagated  where 
they  have  settled ;  so  that  not  only  they  who 
have  been  ejected  have  been  rendered  miserable, 
but  they  have  carried  with  them  and  propagated 
254 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  255 

that  misery.  They  have  Increased  the  stock  of 
labor,  they  have  rendered  the  habitations  of  those 
who  have  received  them  more  crowded,  they  have 
given  occasion  to  the  dissemination  of  disease, 
they  have  been  obliged  to  resort  to  theft  and  all 
manner  of  vice  and  iniquity  to  procure  subsist- 
ence; but  what  is  perhaps  the  most  painful  of  all, 
a  vast  number  of  them  have  perished  of  want." 
The  Poor  Law  Inquiry  of  1835  reported  that 
2,235,000  persons  were  out  of  work  and  in  dis- 
tress for  thirty  weeks  in  the  year.  The  Devon 
Commission  reported  that  it  "  would  be  impossible 
to  describe  adequately  the  sufferings  and  priva- 
tions which  the  cottiers  and  laborers  and  their 
families  in  most  parts  of  the  country  endure," 
"  their  cabins  are  seldom  a  protection  against  the 
weather,"  "a  bed  or  a  blanket  is  a  rare  luxury," 
"in  many  districts  their  only  food  is  the  potato, 
their  only  beverage  water."  "  Returning  noth- 
ing," Mr.  Mill  writes  of  the  Irish  landlords,  "  to 
the  soil,  they  consume  its  whole  produce  minus 
the  potatoes  strictly  necessary  to  keep  the  in- 
habitants from  dying  of  famine."  It  was  this 
state  of  affairs  between  the  landlord  and  tenant 
that  gave  to  the  potato  its  fatal  importance  in  the 
economy  of  Irish  life.  All  the  wheat  and  oats 
which  were  grown  on  the  land  must  go  to  the 
payment  of  the  rent;  and  also  so  much  of  the 
potato  crop  as  was  not  required  to  keep  the 
tenant  and  his  family  from   absolute  starvation. 


256  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

The  potato  was  well  suited  for  the  position  of  the 
tenant.  It  produced  a  larger  amount  per  acre 
than  any  other  crop ;  it  suited  the  soil  and  the 
climate.  The  potato  meant  abundant  food  or 
starvation,  life  or  wholesale  death.  It  was  the 
thin  partition  between  famine  and  the  Irish 
people. 

The  plant  had  its  bad  qualities  as  well  as  its 
good ;  it  was  fickle,  perishable,  liable  to  whole- 
sale destruction,  and  more  than  once  already  had 
given  proof  of  its  terrible  uncertainty.  The  readi- 
ness of  the  potato  to  fail  was  the  main  factor  in 
Irish  life,  not  merely  in  the  epoch  with  which  we 
are  now  dealing,  but  in  a  period  a  great  deal 
nearer  to  our  own  time. 

But  in  1845  the  fields  everywhere  waved  green 
and  flowery,  and  there  was  the  promise  of  an 
abundant  harvest.  There  had  been  whispers  of 
the  appearance  of  disease;  but  it  was  in  coun- 
tries that  in  those  days  appeared  remote — in 
Belgium  or  Germany,  in  Canada  or  America.  In 
the  autumn  of  1845  it  made  its  appearance  for  the 
first  time  in  the  United  Kingdom,  It  was  first 
detected  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  in  the  first  week 
of  September  the  greater  number  of  the  potatoes 
in  the  London  market  were  found  to  be  unfit  for 
human  food.  In  Ireland  the  autumnal  weather 
was  suggestive  of  some  calamity.  For  weeks  the 
air  was  electrical  and  disturbed:  there  was  much 
lightning,  unaccompanied   by   thunder.     At  last 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE  257 

traces  of  the  disease  began  to  be  discovered.  A 
dark  spot — such  as  would  come  from  a  drop  of 
acid — was  found  in  green  leaves;  the  disease 
then  spread  rapidly,  and  in  the  time  there  was 
nothing  in  many  of  the  potato-fields  but  withered 
leaves  emitting  a  putrid  stench. 

The  disease  soon  appeared  on  the  coast  of 
Wexford,  and  before  many  weeks  were  over  re- 
ports of  an  alarming  character  began  to  come 
from  the  interior.  The  plague  was  stealthy  and 
swift,  and  a  crop  that  was  sound  one  day  the  next 
was  rotten.  As  time  passed  on  the  disaster 
spread ;  potatoes,  healthy  when  they  were  dug 
and  pitted,  were  found  utterly  decayed  when  the 
pit  was  opened.  All  kinds  of  remedies  were  pro- 
posed by  scientific  men — ventilation,  new  plans 
of  pitting  and  of  packing,  the  separation  of  the 
sound  and  unsound  parts  of  the  potato.  All 
failed ;  the  blight,  like  the  locust,  was  victor  over 
all  obstacles. 

At  this  moment  England  was  in  the  very 
agony  of  one  of  her  greatest  party  struggles. 
The  advent  of  the  Irish  famine  was  the  last  event 
that  broke  down  Peel's  faith  in  protection. 
When  these  warnings  of  impending  disaster  and 
these  urgent  prayers  for  relief  came  from  Ire- 
land, Peel  was  in  the  unfortunate  position  of 
being  convinced  of  the  danger,  and  at  the  same 
time  impotent  as  to  the  remedies.  He  was  at 
that  moment  in  the  midst  of  his  attempts  to  carry 


258  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

over  his  colleagues  to  free  trade ;  and  so  his 
hands  were  tied.  He  did  propose  that  the 
ports  should  be  opened  by  order  in  Council,  but 
to  this  proposal  he  could  not  get  some  of  his 
colleagues  to  agree.  Then  there  came  a  min- 
isterial crisis :  Peel  resigned  ;  Lord  John  Russell 
was  unable  to  form  an  administration ;  and  Peel 
aeain  resumed  office.  The  result  of  these 
various  occurrences  was  that  the  ports  were  not 
opened  and  that  Parliament  was  not  summoned ; 
and  thus  three  months — every  single  minute  of 
which  involved  wholesale  life  or  death — w^ere 
allowed  to  pass  without  any  effective  remedy. 

Under  such  circumstances,  O'Connell  and  the 
leaders  of  the  National  party  were  justified  in 
drawing  a  contrast  between  this  deadly  delay 
and  the  promptitude  that  a  native  Legislature 
would  have  shown.  "  If,"  he  exclaimed  at  the 
Repeal  Association,  "  they  ask  me  what  are  my 
propositions  for  relief  of  the  distress,  I  answer, 
first,  Tenant-right.  I  would  propose  a  law  giving 
to  every  man  his  own.  I  would  give  the  land- 
lord his  land,  and  a  fair  rent  for  it;  but  I  would 
give  the  tenant  compensation  for  every  shilling 
he  might  have  laid  out  on  the  land  in  permanent 
improvements.  And  what  next  do  I  propose  ? 
Repeal  of  the  Union."  And  then  he  went  on  : 
"  If  we  had  a  Domestic  Parliament,  would  not 
the  ports  be  thrown  open — would  not  the  abun- 
dant crops  with  which  Heaven  has  blessed  her  be 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  269 

kept  for  the  people  of  Ireland — and  would  not 
the  Irish  Parliament  be  more  active  even  than 
the  Belgian  Parliament  to  provide  for  the  people 
food  and  employment  ?  " 

The  opening  hours  of  the  next  Parliamentary- 
session  were  sufficient  to  damp  all  hopes.  On 
means  of  affording  relief  the  Queen's  Speech 
was  vague ;  but  on  the  question  of  Coercion  it 
spoke  in  terms  of  unmistakable  plainness.  "I 
have  observed,"  said  that  document,  "  with  deep 
regret,  the  very  frequent  instances  in  which  the 
crime  of  deliberate  assassination  has  been  of 
late  committed  in  Ireland.  It  will  be  your  duty 
to  consider  whether  any  measures  can  be  devised 
calculated  to  give  increased  protection  to  life  and 
to  bring  to  justice  the  perpetrators  of  so  dread- 
ful a  crime."  The  characteristic  contrast  be- 
tween the  tender  solicitude  of  the  Government 
for  the  landlords,  and  its  half-hearted  regard  for 
the  tenants — at  the  moment  when  of  the  tenants 
a  thousand  had  died  through  eviction  and  hunger 
for  every  one  of  the  landlords  who  had  met 
death  through  assassination — roused  the  bitterest 
resentment  in  Ireland.  "The  only  notice,"  ex- 
claimed the  Nation,  "vouchsafed  to  this  country 
is  a  hint  that  more  gaols,  more  transportation 
and  more  oribbets  mio-ht  be  useful  to  us.  Or, 
possibly,  we  wrong  the  Minister ;  perhaps  when 
her  Majesty  says  that  '  protection  must  be  af- 
forded to  life,'  she  means  that  the  people  are  not 


260  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

to  be  allowed  to  die  of  hunger  during  the  ensu- 
ing summer — or  that  the  lives  of  tenants  are  to 
be  protected  against  the  extermination  of  clear- 
ing landlords — and  that  so  'deliberate  assassi- 
nation' may  become  less  frequent; — God  knows 
what  she  means." 

The  measures  for  limiting  the  distress  were, 
first,  the  importation  of  corn  on  a  lowered  duty ; 
and,  secondly,  the  advance  of  two  sums  of  50,000/., 
one  to  the  landlords  for  the  drainage  of  their 
lands,  and  the  other  for  public  works.  The 
ridiculous  disproportion  of  these  sums  to  the 
magnitude  of  the  calamity  was  proved  before 
very  long;  but  to  all  representations  the  Govern- 
ment repHed  in  the  haughtiest  spirit  of  official 
optimism.  "Instructions  have  been  given,"  said 
Sir  James  Graham,  "  on  the  responsibility  of  the 
Government  to  meet  any  emergency."  Only  one 
good  measure  was  covered  by  the  generous  self- 
complacency  of  this  round  assertion.  Under  a 
Treasury  minute  of  December  19,  1845,  the  Min- 
istry had  instructed  Messrs.  Baring  and  Co.  to 
purchase  100,000/.  worth  of  Indian  corn.  This 
they  introduced  secretly  into  Ireland,  and  its  dis- 
tribution proved  most  timely.  The  Irish  mem- 
bers pressed  for  more  definite  assurances.  But 
their  suggestions  and  Peel's  beneficent  intentions 
were  frustrated  by  the  fatal  entanglement  of  Irish 
sorrows  in  personal  ambitions  and  partisan  war- 
fare.    Peel  had  put  forward  the  Irish  famine  as 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE  261 

the  main  reason  for  his  change  of  opinion  on  the 
Corn  Laws  ;  and  the  Irish  famine  became  one  of 
the  great  debatable  topics  between  the  adherents 
of  free  trade  and  of  protection.  All  the  organs 
of  the  landlords  in  Ireland  united  in  the  state- 
ment that  the  reports  of  distress  were  unreal  and 
exaggerated.  "  The  potato  crop  of  this  year," 
wrote  the  Evening  Mail  (1845),  *'  ^'^'^  exceeded  an 
average  one ; "  "  the  corn  of  all  kinds  is  so  far 
abundant" — which,  indeed,  was  quite  true — "the 
apprehensions  of  a  famine  are  unfounded,  and 
are  merely  made  the  pretence  for  withholding 
the  payment  of  rent."  Some  days  after  it  re- 
peated, "  there  was  a  sufficiency,  an  abundance 
of  sound  potatoes  in  the  country  for  the  wants  of 
the  people."  "The  potato  famine  in  Ireland," 
exclaimed  Lord  George  Bentinck,  "was  a  gross 
delusion  ;  a  more  gross  delusion  had  never  been 
practised  upon  any  country  by  any  Government." 
"The  cry  of  famine  was  a  mere  pretence  for  a 
party  object."  "  Famine  in  Ireland,"  said  Lord 
Stanley,  "  was  a  vision — a  baseless  vision." 

Nothing  brings  the  position  of  the  Irish  tenant 
with  more  terrible  clearness  to  the  mind  than 
the  fact  that  the  awful  warning  of  1845  ^"^^^  ^^  ^^ 
unheeded.  In  1846  the  potato  was  still  cherished 
as  the  single  resource  of  the  peasant.  In  his 
circumstances  the  potato,  and  the  potato  alone, 
offered  him  hope. 

Contemporary  testimony  is  unanimous  in  de- 


262  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

scribing  the  peasants  as  working  at  that  period 
with  a  determination  to  risk  all  on  the  one 
cast  that  exhibited  a  whole  people  in  a  state  of 
desperation.  "Already  feeling  the  pinch  of  sore 
distress,  if  not  actual  famine,  they  worked  as  if 
for  dear  life ;  they  begged  and  borrowed  on  any 
terms  the  means  whereby  to  crop  the  land  once 
more.  The  pawn-offices  were  choked  with  the 
humble  finery  that  had  shone  at  the  village  dance 
or  christening  feast ;  the  banks  and  local  money- 
lenders were  besieged  with  appeals  for  credit. 
Meals  were  stinted ;  backs  were  bared."  The 
spring  was  unpromising  enough.  Snow,  hail 
and  sleet  fell  in  March,  But  when  the  summer 
came,  it  made  amends  for  all  this.  The  weather 
in  June  was  of  tropical  heat ;  vegetation  sprang 
up  with  something  of  tropical  rapidity ;  and 
everybody  anticipated  a  splendid  harvest.  To- 
wards the  end  of  June  there  was  a  change  for 
the  worse.  So  also  in  July,  there  was  the  alter- 
nation of  tropical  heat  and  thunder-storm,  of 
parching  dryness  and  excessive  rain.  After  this 
there  was  a  continuous  downpour  of  rain.  Still 
the  crop  went  on  splendidly ;  and  all  over  the 
country  once  again  wide  fields  promised  exuber- 
ant abundance. 

In  the  early  days  of  August  symptoms  of 
coming  disaster  were  seen.  A  strange  portent 
was  seen  simultaneously  in  several  parts  of  Ire- 
land.    A  fog — which  some  describe  as  extremely 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  263 

white  and  others  as  yellow — was  seen  to  rise 
from  the  ground ;  the  fog  was  dry,  and  emitted 
a  disagreeable  odor.  The  fog  of  that  night 
bore  the  blight  within  its  accursed  bosom.  The 
work  of  destruction  was  as  swift  as  it  was  uni- 
versal. In  a  single  night  and  throughout  the 
whole  country  the  entire  crop  was  destroyed,  al- 
most to  the  last  potato.  "On  the  27th  of  last 
month"  (July),  writes  Father  Mathew,  "I  passed 
from  Cork  to  Dublin,  and  this  doomed  plant 
bloomed  in  all  the  luxuriance  of  an  abundant 
harvest.  Returning  on  the  3d  instant  (August), 
I  beheld  with  sorrow  one  wide  waste  of  putre- 
fying vegetation." 

Some  of  the  people  rushed  into  the  towns, 
others  wandered  listlessly  along  the  high  roads 
in  the  vague  and  vain  hope  that  food  would  some- 
how or  other  come  to  their  hands.  They  grasped 
at  everything  that  promised  sustenance ;  they 
plucked  turnips  from  the  fields;  many  were 
glad  to  live  for  weeks  on  a  single  meal  of  cab- 
bage a  day.  In  some  cases  they  feasted  on  the 
dead  bodies  of  horses  and  asses  and  dogs ;  and 
there  is  at  least  one  horrible  story  of  a  mother 
eatinor  the  limbs  of  her  dead  child. 

The  characteristic  merriment  of  the  peasantry 
totally  disappeared.  People  went  about,  not 
speaking  even  to  beg,  with  a  "  stupid,  despair- 
inor  look ; "  children  looked  "  like  old  men  and 
women  ;  "  and  even  the  lower  animals  seemed  to 


264  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

feel  the  surrounding  despair.  Parents  neglected 
their  children,  and  in  a  few  localities  children 
turned  out  their  aged  parents.  But  such  cases 
were  very  rare,  and  in  the  most  remote  parts  of 
the  country.  There  are,  on  the  other  hand, 
numberless  stories  of  parents  willingly  dying  the 
slow  death  of  starvation  to  save  a  small  store  of 
food  for  their  children. 

The  workhouse  was  then,  as  now,  an  object  of 
loathing.  Within  its  walls  take  refuge  the  vic- 
tims of  vice  and  the  outcasts  of  the  towns.  En- 
trance into  the  workhouse  was  regarded  not 
merely  as  marking  social  ruin,  but  moral  degra- 
dation. Fathers  and  mothers  died  themselves, 
and  allowed  their  children  to  die  along  with  them 
within  their  own  hovels,  rather  than  seek  a  refuge 
within  those  hated  walls.  But  the  time  came 
when  hunger  and  disease  swept  away  these  pre- 
judices, and  the  people  craved  admission.  Here, 
again,  hope  was  cheated ;  the  accommodation  in 
the  workhouses  was  far  below  the  requirements 
of  the  people.  At  Westport  3,000  persons 
sought  relief  in  a  single  day,  when  the  work- 
house, though  built  to  accommodate  1,000  per- 
sons, was  already  "crowded  far  beyond  its  ca- 
pacity." The  streets  were  crowded  with  wan- 
derers sauntering  to  and  fro  with  hopeless  air 
and  hunger-struck  look.  Driven  from  the  work- 
houses, they  began  to  die  on  the  roadside,  or 
within  their  own  cabins.     Corpses  lay  strewn  by 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  265 

the  side  of  once-frequented  roads,  and  at  doors 
in  the  most  crowded  streets  of  the  towns.  Dur- 
ing that  period,  roads  in  many  places  became  as 
charnel-houses,  and  car  and  coach  drivers  rarely 
drove  anywhere  without  seeing  dead  bodies 
strewn  along  the  roadside.  In  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Clifden  one  inspector  of  roads  caused  no 
less  than  140  bodies  to  be  buried  which  he  found 
along  the  highway.  It  was  a  common  occurrence 
to  find  on  opening  the  front  door  in  early  morn- 
ing, leaning  against  it,  the  corpse  of  some  victim 
who  in  the  night-time  had  rested  in  its  shelter. 
Men  with  horse  and  cart  were  employed  to  go 
around  each  day  and  gather  up  the  dead. 

The  bodies  of  those  who  had  fallen  on  the  road 
lay  for  days  unburied.  Husbands  lay  for  a  week 
in  the  same  hovels  with  the  bodies  of  their  un- 
buried wives  and  children.  Often  when  there 
was  a  funeral  it  bore  even  ghastlier  testimony 
to  the  terror  of  the  time.  "  In  this  town,"  writes 
a  correspondent  from  Skibbereen,  "have  I  wit- 
nessed to-day  men,  fathers,  carrying  perhaps  their 
only  child  to  its  last  home,  its  remains  enclosed 
in  a  few  deal  boards  patched  together;  I  have 
seen  them,  on  this  day,  in  three  or  four  instances, 
carrying  those  coffins  under  their  arms  or  upon 
their  shoulders,  without  a  single  individual  in  at- 
tendance upon  them  ;  without  mourner  or  cere- 
mony —  without  wailing  or  lamentation.  The 
people  in  the   street,  the  laborers  congregated 


266  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

in  the  town,  regarded  the  spectacle  without  sur- 
prise ;  they  looked  on  with  indifference,  because 
it  was  of  hourly  occurrence." 

Meantime,  what  had  Government  been  doing? 
They  had  been  aggravating  nearly  all  the  evils 
that  were  causing  so  rich  a  harvest  of  suffering 
and  death.  Donations  to  the  amount  of  ;^ioo,ooo 
had  been  given  from  the  Treasury  under  Peel  in 
aid  of  subscriptions  raised  by  charitable  organiza- 
tions. A  more  important  step  was  the  setting  on 
foot  of  works  for  the  employment  of  the  destitute. 

Lord  John  Russell  suddenly  closed  the  works 
which  had  been  set  on  foot  by  Peel.  At  the  time 
there  were  no  less  than  97,900  persons  employed 
on  the  relief  works  ;  and  the  effect  of  adding  this 
vast  army  of  unemployed  to  the  population  whose 
condition  has  just  been  described  can  be  imag- 
ined. 

Russell's  policy  was  announced  on  August  17, 
1846;  and,  well-intentioned  as  his  scheme  doubt- 
less was,  there  was  scarcely  a  sentence  in  it  which 
did  not  do  harm.  The  Government  did  not  pro- 
pose to  interfere  with  the  regular  mode  by  which 
Indian  corn  and  other  kinds  of  grain  might  be 
brought  into  Ireland.  The  Government  proposed 
"  to  leave  that  trade  as  much  at  liberty  as  pos- 
sible." "  They  would  take  care  not  to  interfere 
with  the  regular  operations  of  merchants  for  the 
supply  to  the  country  or  with  the  retail  trade." 
Relief  works  were  to  be  set  on  foot  by  the  Board 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  267 

of  Works  when  they  had  previously  been  pre- 
sented at  presentment  sessions.  For  these  works 
the  Government  were  to  advance  money  at  the 
rate  of  3^  per  cent,  repayable  in  ten  years.  In 
the  poorer  districts  the  Government  were  to  make 
grants  to  the  extent  of  ;^50,ooo. 

The  evil  effects  of  this  legislation  were  not  long 
in  showino-  themselves.  The  declarations  with 
regard  to  non-intervention  with  trade  were  espe- 
cially disastrous.  The  price  of  grain  at  once  went 
up,  and  while  the  deficiency  of  food  was  thus 
enormously  increased,  speculators  were  driven  to 
frenzy  by  the  prospect  of  fabulous  gains.  Wheal 
that  had  been  exported  by  starving  tenants  was 
afterwards  reimported  to  Ireland  ;  sometimes  be- 
fore it  was  finally  sold  it  had  crossed  the  Irish  Sea 
four  times  —  delirious  speculation  offering  new 
bids  and  rushing  in  insane  eagerness  in  search 
of  the  daily  increasing  prices.  Stories  are  still 
told  of  the  ruin  that  was  the  Nemesis  to  some  of 
the  greedy  speculators  in  a  nation's  starvation. 
More  than  one  who  kept  his  corn  obstinately  in 
store  while  the  people  around  him  were  dying  by 
the  thousand,  when  he  at  last  opened  the  doors 
found,  not  his  longed-for  treasure-house,  but  an 
accumulation  of  rotten  corn.  "A  client  of  mine," 
writes  Fitzgibbon,  "in  the  winter  of  1846-47  be- 
came the  owner  of  corn  cargoes  of  such  number 
and  magnitude  that  if  he  had  accepted  the  prices 
pressed   upon  him   in  April  and   May,  1847,  ^^ 


268  GLADSTONE— PARNELL 

would  have  realized  a  profit  of  ^70,000.  He 
held  for  still  higher  offers,  until  the  market 
turned  in  June,  fell  m  July,  and  rapidly  tumbled 
as  an  abundant  harvest  became  manifest.  He 
still  held,  hoping  for  a  recovery,  and  in  the  end 
of  October  he  became  a  bankrupt."  Thus  did 
this  man's  fatal  avarice  overreach  itself  and  ruin 
him. 

The  Government  did  not  interfere  with  the 
regular  mode  by  which  Indian  corn  might  be 
brought  into  Ireland.  In  Cork  alone  one  firm 
was  reported  to  have  cleared  ^40,000,  and  an- 
other ^80,000,  from  corn  speculations.  The 
reason  for  the  non-intervention  with  the  supply 
of  Indian  corn  was  that  the  retail  trade  might 
not  be  interfered  with  ;  and  at  this  period  retail 
shops  were  so  few  and  far  between  for  the  sale 
of  corn  that  the  laborer  in  the  public  works  had 
sometimes  to  walk  twenty  or  twenty-five  miles  in 
order  to  buy  a  single  stone  of  meal. 

Meantime  a  bitter  calamity  was  added  to  those 
from  which  the  people  were  already  suffering. 
Pestilence  always  hovers  on  the  flank  of  famine, 
and  combined  with  wholesale  starvation  there 
were  numerous  other  circumstances  that  rendered 
a  plague  inevitable — the  assemblage  of  such  im- 
mense numbers  of  people  at  the  public  works  and 
in  the  workhouses,  the  vast  number  of  corpses 
that  lay  unburied,  and  finally  the  consumption  of 
unaccustomed  food.     The  plague  which  fell  upon 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE  269 

Ireland  in   1846-47  was  of  a  peculiarly  virulent' 
kind. 

The  name  applied  to  it  at  the  time  sufficiently 
signified  its  origin.  It  was  known  as  the  "  road- 
fever."  Attacking  as  it  did  people  already  weak- 
ened by  hunger  it  was  a  scourge  of  merciless 
severity.  Unlike  famine,  too,  it  struck  alike  at 
the  rich  and  poor — the  well-fed  and  the  hungered.' 
Famine  killed  one  or  two  of  a  family;  the  fever 
swept  them  all  away.  Food  relieved  hunger; 
the  fever  was  past  all  such  surgery. 

The  people,  worn  out  by  famine,  had  not  the 
physical  or  mental  energy  even  to  move  from' 
their  cabins.  The  panic  which  the  plague  every- 
where created  intensified  the  miseries.  The 
annals  of  the  time  are  full  of  the  kindly,  but  rude 
attempts  of  the  poor  to  stand  by  each  other.  It 
was  a  custom  of  the  period  to  have  food  left  at' 
the  doors  or  handed  in  on  shovels  or  sticks  to  the 
people  inside  the  cabins ;  but  very  often  the 
wretched  inmates  were  entirely  deserted.  Lying 
beside  each  other,  some  living  and  some  dead,' 
their  passage  to  the  grave  was  uncheered  by  one 
act  of  help,  by  one  word  of  sympathy.  "A  terri- 
ble apathy  hangs  over  the  poor ;  starvation  has 
destroyed  every  generous  sympathy  ;  despair  has 
made  them  hardened  and  insensible,  and  they 
sullenly  await  their  doom  with  indifference  and 
without  fear.  Death  is  in  every  hovel ;  disease 
and  famine,  its  dread  precursors,  have  fastened 


270  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

on  the  young  and  the  old,  the  strong  and  the 
feeble,  the  mother  and  the  infant;  whole  families 
lie  together  on  the  damp  floor  devoured  by  fever, 
without  a  human  being  to  wet  their  burning  lips 
or  raise  their  languid  heads  ;  the  husband  dies  by 
the  side  of  the  wife,  and  she  knows  not  that  he  is 
beyond  the  reach  of  earthly  suffering ;  the  same 
rag  covers  the  festering  remains  of  mortality  and 
the  skeleton  forms  of  the  living,  who  are  uncon- 
scious of  the  horrible  contiguity;  rats  devour  the 
corpse,  and  there  is  no  energy  among  the  living 
to  scare  them  from  their  horrid  banquet;  fathers 
bury  their  children  without  a  sigh,  and  cover 
them  in  shallow  graves  round  which  no  weeping 
mother,  no  sympathizing  friends  are  grouped ; 
one  scanty /uneral  is  followed  by  another  and 
another.  Without  food  or  fuel,  bed  or  bedding, 
whole  families  are  shut  up  in  naked  hovels,  drop- 
ping one  by  one  into  the  arms  of  death." 

Before  accommodation  for  patients  "approached 
anything  like  the  necessity  of  the  time,  most 
mournful  and  piteous  scenes  were  presented  in 
the  vicinity  of  fever  hospitals  and  workhouses  in 
large  towns.  Day  after  day  numbers  of  people, 
wasted  by  famine  and  consumed  by  fever,  could 
be  seen  lying  on  the  footpaths  and  roads  waiting 
for  the  chance  of  admission  ;  and  when  they  were 
fortunate  enough  to  be  received  their  places  were 
soon  filled  by  other  victims!" 

"x-^t  the  gate  leading  to  the  temporary  fever 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  271 

hospital,  erected  near  Kilmainham,  were  men, 
women  and  children,  lying  along  the  pathway  and 
in  the  gutter,  awaiting  their  turn  to  be  admitted. 
Some  were  stretched  at  full  length,  with  their 
faces  exposed  to  the  full  glare  of  the  sun,  their 
mouths  opened,  and  their  black  and  parched 
tongues  and  encrusted  teeth  visible  even  from  a 
distance.  Some  women  had  children  at  the 
breast  who  lay  beside  them  in  silence  and  appa- 
rent exhaustion — the  fountain  of  their  life  being 
dried  up;  whilst  in  the  centre  of  the  road  stood  a 
cart  containing  a  whole  family  who  had  been 
smitten  down  together  by  the  terrible  typhus, 
and  had  been  brought  there  by  the  charity  of  a 
neighbor." 

Outside  the  workhouses  similar  scenes  took 
place.  "Those  who  were  not  admitted — and 
they  were,  of  course,  the  great  majority — having 
no  homes  to  return  to,  lay  down  and  died." 

Admission  to  the  fever  hospital  and  to  the 
workhouse  was  but  the  postponement  or  often 
the  acceleration  of  death.  Owing  to  the  unex- 
pected demands  made  upon  their  space,  the  offi- 
cials of  these  institutions  were  utterly  unable  to 
adopt  measures  for  diminishing  the  epidemic. 
The  crowding  rendered  it  Impossible  to  separate 
even  the  dead  and  the  dying — there  were  not 
beds  for  a  tithe  of  the  applicants  ;  and  thus  the 
epidemic  was  spread  and  Intensified.  "Inside 
the    hospital    enclosure"    (the    fever   hospital   at 


272  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Kilmainham),  says  a  writer,  "was  a  small,  open 
shed,  in  which  were  thirty-five  human  beings 
heaped  indiscriminately  on  a  little  straw  thrown 
on  the  ground.  Several  had  been  thus  for  three 
days,  drenched  by  rain,  etc.  Some  were  uncon- 
scious, others  dying ;  two  died  during  the  night." 
"  We  visited  the  poorhouse  at  Glenties  "  (county 
of  Donegal),  says  Mr.  Tuke,  "which  is  in  a 
dreadful  state ;  the  people  were,  in  fact,  half 
starved,  and  only  half  clothed.  They  had  not 
sufficient  food  in  the  house  for  the  day's  supply. 
Some  were  leaving  the  house,  preferring  to  die 
in  their  own  hovels  rather  than  in  the  poorhouse. 
Their  bedding  consisted  of  dirty  straw,  in  which 
they  were  laid  in  rows  on  the  floor,  even  as  many 
as  six  persons  being  crowded  under  one  rug. 
The  living  and  the  dying  were  stretched  side 
by  side  beneath  the  same  miserable  covering." 
The  general  effect  of  all  this  is  summed  up  thus 
pithily  but  completely  in  the  report  of  the  Poor 
Law  Commissioners  for  1846:  "In  the  present 
state  of  things  nearly  every  person  admitted  is  a 
patient ;  separation  of  the  sick,  by  reason  of  their 
number,  becomes  impossible ;  disease  spreads, 
and  by  rapid  transition  the  workhouse  is  changed 
into  one  large  hospital." 

Workhouses  and  hospitals  were  not  the  only 
institutions  which  were  filled.  The  same  thinor 
happened  to  the  gaols.  The  prison  came  to  be 
regarded   as   a  refuge.      Only  smaller   offences 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  273 

were  at  first  committed ;  and  an  epidemic  of 
glass-breaking  set  in.  But  as  times  went  on, 
and  the  pressure  of  distress  became  greater, 
graver  crimes  became  prevalent.  Thus  sheep- 
stealing  grew  to  be  quite  a  common  offence ; 
and  a  prisoner's  good  fortune  was  supposed  to 
be  complete  if  he  were  sentenced  to  the  once 
loathed  punishment  of  transportation  beyond  the 
seas.  The  Irishman  was  made  happy  by  the  fate 
which  took  him  to  any  land,  provided  only  it  was 
not  his  own. 

But  the  prisons,  without  a  tithe  of  the  accom- 
modation necessary  for  the  Inmates,  became  nests 
of  disease  ;  and  often  the  offender  who  hoped  for 
the  luck  of  transportation  beyond  the  seas  found 
that  the  sentence  of  even  a  week's  imprisonment 
proved  a  sentence  of  death. 

The  total  deaths  between  1841  and  185 1  from 
fever  were  222,029.  But,  allowing  for  deficient 
returns,  250,000 — a  quarter  of  a  million  of  people 
— perished  from  fever  alone. 

The  famine  and  the  fever  were  naturally  accom- 
panied and  followed  by  other  maladies  which  re- 
sult from  insufficiency  and  unsuitability  of  food. 
The  potato  blight  continued  with  varying  viru- 
lence until  1 85 1,  its  existence  being  marked  by 
the  prevalence  in  more  or  less  severe  epidemics 
of  dysentery,  which  carried  off  5,492  persons  in 
1846,  25,757  in  1847,  the  annual  totals  swelling, 
until  in  1849  the  deaths  from  this  disease  alone 


274  GLADSTONE— PA  RNELL, 

amounted  to  29,446;  cholera,  which  destroyed 
35,989  lives  in  1848-49;  small-pox,  to  which 
38,275  persons  fell  victims  in  the  decennial  pe- 
riod between  1 841  and  1851.  It  should  be  added 
that  as  a  direct  consequence  of  the  famine  many 
thousands  suffered  severely  from  scurvy,  and  the 
terrible  mortality  of  these  epidemics,  especially 
of  the  fever,  led  to  the  most  repulsive  methods  of 
dealing  with  the  dead. 

The  hideous  magnitude  of  the  sufferinors  of 
Ireland  at  that  moment  was  bound  to  increase 
the  tendency  to  discord.  The  young  and  strong 
and  brave  can  never  reconcile  themselves  to  the 
gospel  that  there  is  such  a  thing  in  this  world  as 
inevitable  evil.  The  sight  of  so  many  thousands 
of  people  perishing  miserably  naturally  sug- 
gested a  frenzied  temper,  and  the  extreme  course 
that  such  a  temper  begets.  Among  the  young 
men,  therefore,  who  gathered  round  the  leaders 
of  the  Nation  newspaper,  there  was  a  constant 
feeling  that  enough  was  'not  being  done  to  save 
the  people.  O'Connell  was  now  approaching 
the  close  of  a  long  and  busy  life.  One  of  the 
great  causes  of  the  split  between  Young  and 
Old  Ireland  was  in  reference  to  what  are  called 
the  "  peace  resolutions."  Some  of  the  utterances 
of  the  Young  Irelanders  had  suggested  the  em- 
ployment of  physical  force  under  certain  circum- 
stances;  and  O'Connell  insisted  upon  the  Repeal 
Association   solemnly   renewing  its   adhesion   to 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  275 

the  resolutions.  These  resolutions,  passed  at  its 
formation,  laid  down  the  doctrine  that  no  po- 
litical reform  was  worth  purchasing  by  the  shed- 
ding of  even  one  drop  of  blood.  It  is  hard  to 
believe  that  O'Connell  ever  did  accept  in  its  en- 
tirety the  doctrine  that  physical  force  was  not  a 
justifiable  expedient  under  any  imaginable  cir- 
cumstances. O'Connell  probably  meant  to  say, 
that  Ireland  was  so  weak  at  that  time  when  com- 
pared to  England,  that  an  exercise  of  physical 
force  could  have  no  possible  chance  of  success, 
and  that  it  was  as  well  to  reconcile  the  people  to 
their  impotence  by  raising  it  to  the  dignity  of  a 
great  moral  principle.  From  this  time  forward 
there  were  rival  organizations,  rival  leaders  and 
rival  policies  in  the  National  party. 

O'Connell  did  not  survive  to  see  the  complete 
wreck  of  the  vast  organization  which  he  had  held 
together  for  so  long  a  period.  Rarely  has  a 
great,  and  on  the  whole  successful,  career  ended 
in  gloom  so  unbroken.  He  worked  on  as  ener- 
getically as  ever,  for  he  was  a  man  whose  indus- 
try never  paused.  But  bolh  he  and  his  policy 
had  lost  their  prestige.  The  young  and  ardent 
began  to  question  his  power,  and  still  more  to 
doubt  his  policy.  Then  came  1846  and  1847, 
with  the  people  whom  he  had  pledged  himself  to 
bring  into  the  promised  land  of  self-government 
and  prosperity  dying  of  hunger  and  disease, 
fleeing  as  from  an    accursed  spot,  or  bound  to 


276  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

the  fiery  wheel  of  oppression  more  securely  than 
ever.  On  April  3d,  1846,  he  delivered  a  length- 
ened speech  to  the  House  of  Commons,  of 
which  an  entirely  inaccurate  description  is  given 
in  Lord  Beaconsfield's  "  Life  of  Lord  George 
Bentinck." 

However  much  the  voice  and  other  physical 
attributes  of  O'Connell  may  have  appeared  to 
have  decayed,  this  speech,  in  its  selection  of  evi- 
dence, and  in  its  arrangement  of  facts,  and  its 
presentation  of  the  whole  case  against  the  land 
system  of  Ireland,  may  be  read  even  to-day  as 
the  completes!  and  most  convincing  speech  of 
the  times  on  the  question.  He  spoke  in  the 
House  of  Commons  for  the  last  time  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1847,  ^"*^  t^^  next  day  was  seriously  ill. 
He  went  abroad,  and  was  everywhere  met  by 
demonstrations  of  respect  and  affection.  But  his 
heart  was  broken.  A  gloom  had  settled  over 
him  which  nothing  could  shake  off.  He  died  at 
Genoa,  on  May  15th,  1847.  His  last  will  was 
that  his  heart  should  be  sent  to  Rome,  and  his 
body  to  Ireland.  He'lies  in  Glasnevin  Cemetery. 
The  removal  of  his  imposing  personality  from 
Irish  politics  aggravated  the  dissensions  between 
Old  and  Young  Ireland. 

The  evils  of  the  country  grew  daily  worse; 
hope  from  Parliament  died  in  face  of  a  failure  so 
colossal  as  that  of  O'Connell ;  and  some  of  the 
Young  Irelanders,  seized  with  despair,  resolved  to 
try  physical  force. 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  277 

The  apostle  of  this  new  gospel  was  John 
Mitchel — one  of  the  strangest  and  strongest 
figures  of  Irish  political  struggles.  He  was  the 
son  of  an  Ulster  Unitarian  clergyman ;  and  he 
was  one  of  the  early  contributors  to  the  Nation, 
and  started  a  paper  on  his  own  account.  In  this 
paper  insurrection  was  openly  preached ;  and  es- 
pecially insurrection  against  the  land  system. 
The  people  were  asked  not  to  die  themselves, 
nor  let  their  wives  and  children  die,  while  their 
fields  were  covered  with  food  which  had  been  pro- 
duced by  the  sweat  of  their  brows  and  by  their 
own  hands.  It  was  pointed  out  that  the  reason 
why  all  this  food  was  sent  from  a  starving  to  a 
prosperous  nation  was  that  the  rent  of  the  land 
lord  might  be  paid,  and  that  the  rent  should 
therefore  be  attacked. 

The  Ministry,  in  order  to  cope  with  the  results 
of  a  period  of  universal  hunger  and  disease,  suc- 
ceeded in  having  a  whole  code  of  coercion  laws 
passed.  The  Cabinet  had  changed  its  political 
complexion.  Lord  John  Russell  had  been  the 
leader  of  the  Whigs  in  the  triumphant  attack  on 
coercion  ;  and  now  transformed  from  the  leader 
of  Opposition  to  the  head  of  the  Government, 
brought  in  coercion  bills  himself. 

It  has  been  already  told  how,  when  O'Connell 
was  tried  and  convicted  by  packed  juries  and  par- 
tisan judges,  the  Whig  leaders  in  the  House  of 
Commons  denounced  jury-packing  as  the  vilest 


278  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

and  meanest  of  expedients  to  crush  political  op- 
ponents ;  within  a  year  or  so  of  these  declarations 
the  Whigs  were  packing  juries  before  partisan 
judges,  and  were  getting  verdicts  to  order  which 
sent  political  opponents  beyond  the  seas.  There 
was  in  these  years  in  Dublin  a  sheet  called  the 
World,  a  blackmailing  organ.  Its  editor — a  man 
named  Birch — had  been  tried  and  convicted  of 
attempting  to  obtain  hush-money  from  helpless 
men  and  women  whom  chance  had  placed  in  his 
power.  Lord  Clarendon,  the  Whig  Lord  Lieu- 
tenant, was  forced  to  confess  in  a  trial  in  public 
court  some  years  afterwards,  that  he  had  given 
Birch  between  ;^ 2,000  and  ;/"3,ooo  to  turn  his 
slanderous  pen  against  the  leaders  of  the  Young 
Ireland  party. 

Mitchel  was  brought  to  trial ;  Lord  John  Rus- 
sell pledged  himself  that  it  should  be  a  fair  trial. 
He  had  written,  he  declared,  to  Lord  Clarendon 
that  he  trusted  there  would  not  arise  any  charge 
of  any  kind  of  unfairness  as  to  the  composition 
of  the  juries,  as,  for  his  own  part,  "he  would 
rather  see  those  parties  acquitted  than  that  there 
should  be  any  such  unfairness."  Yet  was  the 
pledge  most  flagrantly  broken ;  and  the  packing 
of  the  jury  of  John  Mitchel  under  the  premier- 
ship of  Lord  John  Russell  was  as  open,  as  relent- 
less, as  shameless,  as  the  packing  of  the  jury  of 
O'Connell  under  the  premiership  of  Sir  Robert 
Peel.     The  Crown  challenged  thirty-nine  of  the 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  279 

jurors,  with  the  final  result  that  there  was  not  a 
single  Catholic  on  the  jury,  and  that  the  Prot- 
estants were  of  the  Orange  class  who  would  be 
quite  willing  to  hang  Mitchel  without  the  for- 
mality of  trial. 

Mitchel  was  sentenced  to  fourteen  years' 
transportation  ;  in  a  few  hours  after  the  sentence 
he  was  on  the  way  already  to  the  land  to  which  he 
was  now  exiled.  His  own  expectation  was  that 
the  Government  would  never  be  allowed  to  con- 
quer him  without  a  struggle,  and  that  his  sen- 
tence would  be  the  longed-for  and  the  necessary 
sigfnal  for  the  rising.  But  it  was  deemed  wisest 
by  the  other  leaders  of  the  Young  Ireland  party 
that  the  attempt  at  insurrection  should  be  post- 
poned. By  successive  steps,  however,  these  men 
were  in  turn  driven  to  the  conviction  that  an 
attempt  at  insurrection  should  be  made. 

Mr.  Smith  O'Brien  was  the  member  of  an  aris- 
tocratic family.  His  brother  afterwards  became 
Lord  Inchiquin,  and  was  the  nearest  male  relative 
to  the  Marquis  of  Thomond.  For  years  he  had 
been  honestly  convinced  that  the  Liberal  party 
would  remedy  all  the  wrongs  of  the  Irish  people. 
But  as  time  went  on,  and  all  these  evils  seemed 
to  become  aggravated  instead  of  relieved,  he  was 
driven  slowly  and  unwillingly  into  the  belief  that 
the  legislative  Union  was  the  real  source  of  all 
the  evils  of  his  country.  By  successive  steps  he 
was  driven  into  the  ranks  of  Young  Ireland,  and 


280  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

by  degrees  into  revolution.  When  he,  Mr.  John 
Blake  Dillon,  Mr.  D'Arcy  M'Gee,  and  Mr.  (now 
Sir)  Charles  Gavan  Duffy  were  finally  forced  into 
the  attempt  to  create  an  insurrection,  they  had  a 
strong  feeling  that  they  were  called  upon  to  make 
it  rather  through  the  calls  of  honor  than  the 
chances  of  success.  The  attempt  at  all  events 
proved  a  disastrous  failure.  After  an  attack  on  a 
police  barrack  at  Ballingarry,  the  small  force 
which  O'Brien  had  been  able  to  call  and  keep  to- 
gether was-scattered.  He  and  the  greater  num- 
ber of  the  leaders  were  arrested  after  a  few  days, 
and  were  put  on  their  trial.  The  juries  were 
packed  as  before,  the  judges  were  partisans,  and 
O'Brien  and  the  rest  were  convicted,  were  sen- 
tenced to  death,  and,  this  sentence  being  com- 
muted, were  transported.  This  was  the  end  of 
the  Young  Ireland  party.  The  party  of  O'Con- 
nell  did  not  survive  much  longer.  In  1847  there 
was  a  oreneral  election.  The  account  of  that  elec- 
tion  is  one  of  the  most  depressing  and  most  in- 
structive chapters  in  Irish  history,  and  makes  sev- 
eral years  of  Irish  history  intelligible. 

The  idea  of  the  Young  Irelanders  was  an  inde- 
pendent Irish  party.  But  O'Connell's  heirs,  as  he 
himself,  taught  a  very  different  creed.  It  was 
O'Connell's  persistent  idea  that  his  supporters 
were  justified  in  taking  offices  under  the  Crown. 
It  is  easy  to  understand  his  reasons  for  adopting 
such  a  policy.     When  O'Connell  started  his  po- 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  281 

litical  career,  every  post  of  power  in  Ireland  was 
held  by  the  enemies  of  the  popular  cause.  All 
men  in  any  public  position,  great  or  small,  were 
Protestants,  and  most  of  them  Conservatives. 
Ireland  had  all  the  forms  which  in  England  are 
the  guarantees  of  freemen  and  freedom,  but  these 
forms  became  the  bulwarks  and  instruments  of 
tyranny.  It  was  in  vain  that  there  were  in  Ire- 
land judges  who  had  the  same  independence  of 
the  Crown  as  their  brethren  in  England,  if,  from 
political  partisanship,  they  could  be  relied  upon  to 
do  the  behests  of  the  Government.  Trial  by  jury 
was  a  "  mockery,  a  delusion,  and  a  snare,"  if  it 
meant  trial  by  a  carefully  selected  number  of 
one's  bitterest  political  and  religious  opponents. 
And  no  laws  could  establish  political  or  social  or 
religious  equality  when  their  administration  was 
left  to  the  unchecked  caprice  of  political  partisans. 
O'Connell  thought,  therefore,  that  one  of  the 
first  necessities  of  Irish  progress  was  that  the 
judiciary  and  the  other  official  bodies  of  the 
country  should  be  manned  by  men  belonging  to 
the  same  faith  and  sympathizing  with  the  political 
sentiments  of  the  majority  of  their  countrymen. 
O'Connell  was  the  leader  of  a  democratic  move- 
ment with  no  revenue  save  such  as  the  vohintary 
subscriptions  of  his  followers  supplied.  It  was 
not  an  unwelcome  relief  to  his  cause  if  occasion- 
ally he  was  able  to  transform  the  pensioners  op 
his  funds  into  pensioners  on  the  coffers  of  the 


282  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

State.  At  this  period  the  Irish  leader  had  a 
much  more  circumscribed  class  from  which  to 
draw  his  Parliamentary  supporters  than  at  the 
present  day.  There  were  large  classes  of  the 
population  who,  while  they  had  the  property 
qualification,  were  in  other  respects  entirely  un- 
suited  for  the  position  of  members  of  a  popular 
party.  The  landlords  were  almost  to  a  man  on 
the  side  of  existing  abuses,  and  the  greater  num- 
ber of  the  members  of  this  body  whom  O'Connell 
was  able  to  recruit  to  his  ranks  were  usually  men 
of  extravagant  habits  and  of  vicious  lives,  and 
politics  was  the  last  desperate  card  with  which 
their  fortunes  were  to  be  marred  or  mended.  It 
was  all  very  well  for  half  a  million  of  people  to 
meet  O'Connell  at  the  monster  meetings,  and  to 
show  that^he  commanded,  as  never  did  popular 
leader  before,  the  affections,  the  opinions,  and  the 
right  arms  of  a  unanimous  nation.  But  when  it 
came  to  the  time  for  obtaining  a  Parliamentary 
supporter  for  his  struggle  with  English  Ministries, 
it  was  not  upon  the  voice  of  the  people  that  the 
decision  rested.  He  could  carry  most  of  the 
counties,  even  though  support  of  him  meant  sen- 
tences of  eviction  and  of  death,  or  of  exile  to  his 
adherents.  In  the  boroughs  it  was  half  a  dozen 
shopkeepers,  face  to  face  with  always  impending 
bankruptcy,  who  had  the  decision  of  an  election. 
Finally,  O'Connell,  in  this  matter  of  place-hunting, 
as  In  so  many  others,  was  led  astray  by  reliance 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  283 

upon  the  English  Whig  party.  The  result  was 
the  creation  in  Ireland  of  a  school  of  politicians 
which  has  been  at  once  her  dishonor  and  her 
bane.  This  was  the  race  of  Catholic  place- 
hunters.  It  will  be  found  that  in  exact  proportion 
to  their  success  and  number  were  the  degradation 
and  the  deepening  misery  of  their  country;  that 
for  years  the  struggle  for  Irish  prosperity  and 
self-government  was  impeded  mainly  through 
them  ;  and  that  hope  for  the  final  overthrow  of 
the  whole  vast  structure  of  wrong  in  Ireland 
showed  some  chance  of  realization  for  the  first 
time  when  they  were  expelled  forever  from  politi- 
cal life. 

A  profligate  landlord,  or  an  aspiring  but  brief- 
less barrister,  was  elected  for  an  Irish  constituency 
as  a  follower  of  the  popular  leader  of  the  day  and 
as  the  mouthpiece  of  his  principles.  He  soon 
gave  it  to  be  understood  by  the  distributors  of 
State  patronage  that  he  was  open  to  a  bargain. 
The  time  came  when  in  the  party  divisions  his 
vote  was  of  consequence,  and  the  bargain  was 
then  struck. 

The  wretched  following  which    in    the  course 

of  his    lonof   strueele    O'Connell    had    grathered 

about  him  gave  that  apparent  uncleanness  to  his 

proceedings  which  excited  the  just  indignation  of 

young   and    ardent   and    high-minded    men    and 

caused    the    demand   for   an    independent    Irish 

party,  with  no  mercy  to  place-hunters.     Richard 
17 


284  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Lalor  Shell,  one  of  the  most  eloquent  colleagues 
of  O'Connell  in  the  old  struggle,  had  kept  out  of 
all  popular  movements — some  said  because  the 
despotic  will  of  the  great  tribune  made  life  intol- 
erable to  any  but  slaves — and  had  in  time  sunk  to 
the  level  of  a  Whig  office-holder.  In  1846  he 
stood  for  Dungarvan,  and  the  Young  Irelanders 
demanded  that  he  should  be  opposed  by  a  man 
who  was  not  in  favor  with  the  Government. 
O'Connell  stood  by  his  old  associate,  and  Shiel 
was  elected. 

In  1848  the  famine  had  not  passed  away.  The 
succeeding  year  was  the  very  worst  in  the  cen- 
tury, except  1847.  But  by  this  time  Lord  John 
Russell  entirely  changed  his  tune.  He  met  every 
demand  for  reform  with  an  uncompromising  neg- 
ative, or  with  the  absolute  denial  that  any  relief 
was  needed, 

"  While,"  said  Lord  John  Russell,  "  I  admit  that, 
with  respect  to  the  franchise  and  other  subjects, 
the  people  of  Ireland  may  have  just  grounds  of 
complaint,  I,  nevertheless,  totally  deny  that  their 
grievances  are  any  sufficient  reason  why  they 
should  not  make  very  great  progress  in  wealth 
and  prosperity,  if,  using  the  intelligence  which 
they  possess  in  a  remarkable  degree,  they  would 
fix  their  minds  on  the  advantages  which  they 
might  enjoy  rather  than  upon  the  evils  which 
they  suppose  themselves  to  suffer  under." 

Then  he  made   allusion   to  a   Bill  which    had 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  285 

been  brought  in  by  Sir  William  Somerville  for 
dealing  with  the  Land  question.  Its  proposals 
were  indeed  modest.  It  gave  compensation  to 
tenants  for  permanent  improvements ;  but  those 
improvements  had  to  be  made  with  the  consent 
of  the  landlords,  and  it  was  not  proposed  that  the 
Bill  should  be  retrospective.  But,  modest  as  these 
proposals  were,  it  did  not  gain  the  full  approval 
of  the  Prime  Minister,  and  they  did  not  secure 
the  safety  of  the  Bill.  To  any  such  proposal  as 
fixity  of  tenure  the  Liberal  Prime  Minister  could 
offer  his  strongest  hostility. 

"But,  after  all,"  said  Lord  John  Russell,  "that 
which  we  should  look  to  for  improving  the  rela- 
tions between  landlord  and  tenant  is  a  better 
mutual  understanding  between  those  who  occupy 
those  relative  positions.  Voluntary  agreements 
between  landlords  and  tenants,  carried  out  for  the 
benefit  of  both,  are,  after  all,  a  better  means  of 
improving  the  land  of  Ireland  than  any  legislative 
measure  which  can  be  passed." 

The  "better  mutual  understanding"  on  which 
the  Prime  Minister  relied  for  an  improvement  in 
the  relations  of  landlord  and  tenant  at  this  mo- 
ment was  hounding  the  landlords  to  carry  oa 
wholesale  clearances  which,  in  the  opinion  of 
Earl  Grey,  were  "a  disgrace  to  a  civilized  coun- 
try;" which  had  been  denounced  over  and  over 
again  by  Lord  John  Russell  himself;  and  which, 
in  the  opinion  of  most  men,  remain  as  one  of  the 


286  GLADSTONE— PARNELI. 

blackest  records  in  all  history  of  man's  inhumanity 
to  man.  In  that  year,  followmo  the  exhortation 
of  the  Prime  Minister  to  voluntary  agreements 
"for  the  benefit  of  both,"  the  landlords  had  evicted 
no  less  than  half  a  million  of  tenants. 

The  frightful  state  of  things  in  1847  naturally 
produced  a  considerable  amount  of  disturbance. 
Many  of  the  tenants  were  indecent  enough  to 
object  to  being  robbed  of  their  own  improve- 
ments and  went  the  length  of  revolting* against 
their  wives  and  children  being  massacred  whole- 
sale. In  short,  the  rent  was  in  danger,  and  in 
favor  of  that  sacred  institution  all  the  resources 
of  British  law  and  British  force  were  promptly 
despatched.  The  Legislature  had  shown  no 
hurry  whatever  to  meet  in  '46  or  '47,  when  the 
question  at  issue  was  whether  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  the  Irish  tenantry  should  perish  of  hunger 
or  of  the  plague.  Now  Parliament  could  not  be 
summoned  too  soon,  and  a  Coercion  Bill  could 
not  be  carried  with  too  much  promptitude. 

It  will  not  be  necessary  to  recall  the  quotations 
which  have  just  been  made  from  the  speech  of 
Lord  John  Russell  in  opposing  the  Coercion  Bill 
of  1846.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  while  in  1846  he 
had  objected  to  the  Coercion  Bill,  "  above  all " 
because  it  was  not  accompanied  with  measures 
''  of  relief,  of  remedy,  and  conciliation,"  and  that 
he  had  gone  so  far  as  to  pledge  himself  to  the 
principle  that  sonie  such  proposals   ought  to  ac- 


THE  GREAT  IRISH  STRUGGLE.  287 

company  any  measure  which  tended  to  "  increased 
rigor  of  the  law,"  Lord  John  Russell  was  now 
himself  proposing  a  measure  for  greatly  "in- 
creased rigor  of  the  law,"  not  only  without  ac- 
companying it  with  any  measure  of  "relief,  of 
remedy,  of  conciliation "  on  his  own  part,  but 
vehemently  opposing  any  such  measure  when 
brought  in  by  any  other  person.  Lord  Grey 
has  been  quoted  for  his  opinion  on  the  clear- 
ance system,  and  here  was  the  clearance  system 
going  on  worse  than  ever,  and  Lord  Grey  re- 
maining a  member  of  the  Ministry. 

The  police  were  urged  to  unusual  activity,  and 
large  bodies  of  the  military  even  were  pressed 
into  the  service  of  the  landlords,  seized  the  pro- 
duce of  the  fields,  carried  them  to  Dublin  for 
sale — acted  in  every  respect  as  the  collectors  of 
the  rent  of  the  landlord,  and  thus  shared  the 
honor  of  starvinsf  the  tenants. 

In  1848  a  number  of  Irishmen,  as  has  been 
seen,  driven  to  madness  by  the  dreadful  suffering 
they  everywhere  saw  around,  and  by  the  neglect 
or  incapacity  of  Parliament,  had  sought  the  des- 
perate remedy  of  open  revolt.  The  men  who,  for 
wrongs  much  less  grievous,  rose  in  the  same 
year  in  Hungary  or  France  or  Italy,  were  the  idols 
of  the  British  people,  and  were  aided  and  encour- 
aged by  British  statesmen.  But  British  action 
towards  Ireland  was  to  pass  a  Treason  Felony 
Act,  and  to  suspend  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act. 


288  GLADSTONE— PARNELL, 

Parliament  came  together.  Lord  John  Russell 
brought  forward  his  bill.  Sir  Robert  Peel  at  once 
"gave  his  cordial  support  to  the  proposed  meas- 
ure." Mr.  Disraeli  "declared  his  intention  of 
giving  the  measure  of  government  his  unvarying 
and  unequivocal  support."  Mr.  Hume  was 
"obliged,  though  reluctantly,  to  give  his  consent 
to  the  measure  of  the  government."  Lord  John 
Russell  said  that  "as  the  House  had  expressed  so 
unequivocally  its  feeling  in  favor  of  the  bill,  it 
would  doubtless  permit  its  further  stages  to  be 
proceeded  with  iiistanter.  He  moved  the  second 
reading."  Of  course  the  House  permitted  the 
further  stages  to  be  proceeded  with  iiistanter,  and 
the  bill,  having  passed  through  committee,  "Lord 
Russell  moved  the  third  readinor"  which  was 
agreed  to,  "and  the  bill  was  forthwith  taken  up 
to  the  House  of  Lords."  "  On  the  next  day  but 
one,  Monday,  July  26,"  goes  on  the  "Annual  Reg- 
ister," "  the  bill  was  proposed  by  the  Marquis  of 
Lansdowne,  who  concluded  his  speech  in  its  favor 
by  moving  'that  the  public  safety  requires  that 
the  bill  should  be  passed  with  all  possible  de- 
spatch.' "  Of  course  the  motion  was  accepted  by 
their  Lordships  "  that  the  bill  should  be  passed 
with  all  possible  despatch ;  "  and  "  the  bill  passed 
mm.  dis.  through  all  its  stages."  This  was  the 
action  of  liberty-loving  Englishmen  in  1848. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

RESURRECTION. 

THE  Fenian  movement  was  largely  the  crea- 
tion of  Irish-America.  Thither  had  fled  at 
various  periods  men  who,  having  taken  part  in 
revolts  against  the  intolerable  tyranny  of  Eng- 
land in  Ireland,  were  unable  to  remain  in  their 
own  country.  The  Irish  in  America  were  besides 
Impelled  to  resentment  against  the  unhappy  posi- 
tion of  their  country  by  the  sight  of  the  prosperity 
of  a  free  Republic.  Thus  in  many  ways  the  new 
world  in  spite  of  its  official  neutrality  deeply  influ- 
ences the  history  of  the  old.  James  Stephens 
and  John  O'Mahony  were  the  two  main  spirits  in 
organizing  this  attempt  by  armed  force  to  destroy 
British  dominion  in  Ireland.  They  were  able  to 
gather  into  their  ranks  many  earnest  and  brave 
men  in  some  parts  of  Ireland ;  they  got  a  strong 
hold  on  the  military ;  and  in  fact  they  made  a 
movement  the  proportions  of  which  were  a 
formidable  threat  against  the  English  power. 
But  the  movement  had  many  weaknesses-'-above 
all  it  suffered  from  the  want  of  war  material.  It 
made  several  attempts  at  a  rising ;  but  the  men 

289 


290  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

were  without  arms  and  were  easily  overcome. 
Successive  batches  of  leaders  were  tried  before 
packed  juries  ;  and  there  was  the  old  story  in  Irish 
life  of  perjury,  bribed  informers,  partisan  judges; 
and  then  after  conviction  followed  sentences  of 
unjustifiable  cruelty.  Indeed,  in  most  cases  the 
cruelty  began  before  the  sentences  were  passed. 
The  Imperial  Parliament,  which  could  never  find 
time  or  will  to  stand  between  Ireland  and  de- 
struction by  eviction  and  emigration,  turned  all 
its  force  to  the  passing  of  coercion  laws.  The 
Habeas  Corpus  Act  was  suspended  without  cere- 
mony. On  one  occasion  the  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment sat  through  all  Saturday  and  even  into  the 
Sabbath  in  order  to  more  speedily  pass  such  a 
law.  Then  men  were  seized  all  over  the  coun- 
try, were  cast  into  prison  and  were  kept  there 
sometimes  as  long  as  a  year  without  being 
brought  to  trial.  While  thus  confined  they  were 
treated  exactly  as  if  they  had  been  convicted — in 
some  cases  worse !  The  result  was  that  several 
of  them  went  insane,  and  afterwards  more  than 
one  ended  his  own  life.  When  the  Fenian 
prisoners  were  convicted  they  were  sent  among 
the  ordinary  prisoners:  thieves,  burglars,  mur- 
derers— the  scum  and  refuse  of  English  society. 

The  Fenian  movement  as  an  armed  revolt 
against  the  forces  of  England  failed  ;  but  as  a 
trumpet-call  to  Ireland  to  rouse  herself  from  her 
lethargy  of  death  it  succeeded.     Two  events  came 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  291 

finally  in  connection  with  Fenianism  that  exer- 
cised a  strong  influence  on  the  future  of  Ireland. 
The  one  was  the  blowing  down  of  the  prison  in 
London  in  which  a  prominent  Fenian  prisoner 
was  confined ;  and  the  other  was  the  rescue  of 
Captain  Kelly,  the  successor  to  Mr.  Stephens  in 
the  leadership  of  the  movement,  and  a  companion 
named  Deasy  from  a  prison  van  in  Manchester. 
In  the  blowing  down  of  Clerkenwell  there  was 
unhappily  a  large  loss  of  innocent  life;  in  the 
attack  on  the  prison  van  at  Manchester  a  ser- 
geant of  police  was  accidentally  killed.  Three 
men  were  executed  for  the  Manchester  rescue — 
Allan,  Larkin,  and  O'Brien.  Their  trial  took 
place  under  circumstances  of  popular  panic  and 
amid  a  tempest  of  popular  hatred  in  England. 
The  evidence  ao^ainst  them  was  weak ;  it  was 
proved  afterwards  to  be  grossly  false  in  some 
particulars;  while  on  the  other  hand  there  was 
abundant  testimony  that  the  shooting  of  Sergeant 
Brett  was  accidental  and  unintentional.  Several 
attempts  were  made  to  have  the  sentence  on  the 
three  Irishmen  commuted,  but  all  failed;  and  they 
were  executed.  The  event  created  terrible  ex- 
citement all  through  the  Irish  world,  wherever  It 
might  be.  O'Mara  Condon,  one  of  the  men  tried 
at  the  same  time  and  condemned  to  death,  but 
afterwards  sentenced  to  penal  sei-vitude,  used  the 
phrase  "  God  Save  Ireland  "  from  the  dock.  Mr. 
T.  D.  Sullivan  wrote  a  poem  to  this  refrain  in  the 


292  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Nation  newspaper ;  it  spread  like  wild-fire,  and  to- 
day it  may  be  described  as  the  national  anthem 
of  Ireland. 

It  was  fortunate  for  Ireland  that  at  this  moment 
the  Liberal  party  was  led  by  Mr.  Gladstone.  The 
features,  moral,  physical  and  mental,  of  this  re- 
markable man  are  already  familiar  to  every 
American.  He  was  the  man  above  all  others 
suited  for  the  great  occasion  which  had  now 
arisen.  There  has  scarcely  ever  been  an  English- 
man who  exercised  so  great  a  control  over  the 
hearts  and  minds  of  the  English  people.  He  has 
always  appealed  to  their  higher  and  better  emo- 
tions; and  thus  he  has  been  able  to  raise  a  moral 
tempest  in  which  they  were  caught  up  and  carried 
away.  The  marvellous  combination  of  different 
and  apparendy  contradictory  gifts  is  one  of  the 
striking  things  in  his  nature.  There  is  no  man 
more  intimately  acquainted  with  the  technique  of 
a  Parhamentary  and  official  life.  He  has  been 
several  times  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.  In 
that  position  it  has  been  his  business  to  become 
master  of  the  details  and  inner  life  of  many  of  the 
trades  of  the  country.  He  has  been  able  to  meet 
all  comers  in  the  debates  on  the  smallest  items 
of  the  annual  budget. 

But  there  is  another  side  to  this  great  character. 
There  is  no  man  who  understands  better  the 
great  heart-throbs  of  humanity,  and  that  can  bet- 
ter employ  the  chords  to  which  they  thrill.     He 


THE  OBNOXIOUS   PROCESS-SERVER. 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  295 

is  capable  of  presenting  a  great  public  question 
to  the  people  in  the  broad  visible  lines  with  which 
the  masses  must  be  approached.  He  is  thus  as 
successful  on  the  platform  as  on  the  floor  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  In  1867  he  took  up  the 
question  of  the  Irish  Church. 

The  Irish  Church  did  not  then  seem  to  be  the 
most  serious  of  Irish  o-rievances.  But  the  Irish 
Catholics  had  to  pay  for  the  support  of  the  church 
of  the  Protestant  minority.  The  dissenters  of 
Enoland  themselves  suffer  under  an  Established 
and  Endowed  Church ;  and  accordingly  Mr.  Glad- 
stone was  able  to  command  their  enthusiastic 
support  in  his  crusade. 

In  the  course  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  great  cam- 
paign against  the  Irish  Church  he  had  gone  over 
Irish  grievances,  and  had  spoken  of  Irish  wrongs 
in  tones  of  sympathy  that  were  as  novel  as  they 
were  welcome  to  the  Irish  people.  It  was  in  the 
course  of  these  speeches,  too,  that  he  first  gave 
in  (jerm  the  ideas  which  have  since  borne  fruit  as 
to  Home  Rule.  He  said  he  thought  Ireland 
ought  to  be  dealt  with  more  in  accordance  with 
Irish  ideas.  One  of  the  first  movements  that 
were  started  now  was  one  in  favor  of  the  release 
of  the  political  prisoners.  The  admission  by  Mr. 
Gladstone  that  Ireland  was  suffering  from  griev- 
ous and  intolerable  wrongs  made  it  cruel,  and  also 
illogical,  to  keep  the  men  in  jail  who  had  been 
driven  to  the  desperate  expedient  of  rebellion  in 


296  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

order  to  remedy  those  wrongs.  The  Irish  people, 
too,  could  but  admire  the  courage  of  the  men 
whose  love  of  Ireland  had  driven  them  to  face 
the  risk  of  the  gallows  and  penal  servitude. 

The  movement  for  their  release  swept  over  the 
country  like  wildfire.  Mighty  gatherings  were 
held  in  all  the  towns,  and  resolutions  were  every- 
where passed  calling  for  an  amnesty.  It  was  this 
movement  that  brought  back  into  Irish  life  a  man 
who  was  destined  to  play  an  important  part  in 
events  now  about  to  come — Isaac  Butt.  He  was 
chosen  as  the  advocate  of  the  Fenian  prisoners, 
and  he  defended  them  all  with  indubitable  energy 
and  brilliant  ability,  and  with  all  the  forensic  re- 
sources of  a  great  advocate.  Of  course  he  failed 
to  win  the  game  against  the  desperate  odds  of 
that  day.  Afterwards  he  joined  in  the  movement 
for  the  release  of  the  prisoners — in  fact  was  al- 
most its  only  prominent  supporter  for  a  while ; 
and  so  was  forced  into  a  position  that  won  for 
him  the  affections  of  his  country.  ^ 

The  farmers  were  next  to  be  aroused,  and  once 
more  a  movement  was  started  in  favor  of  the 
principles  of  tenant  rights.  Sir  John  Grey,  the 
editor  of  Freeman  s  yotirnal,  was  one  of  the  lead- 
ing public  men  of  his  day,  and  was  a  man  of 
transcendent  ability  and  tireless  energy.  He 
had  been  one  of  the  main  instruments  in  pro- 
curing the  destruction  of  the  Irish  Church,  against 
which  he  had  waged  incessant  war  for  more  than 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  297 

a  quarter  of  a  century.  He  now  joined  Butt  in 
the  agitation  for  tenant  right.  The  demands  of 
the  tenants  were  for  what  are  known  as  the  three 
F's — that  is  to  say,  "  fixity  of  tenure  "  or  protec- 
tion against  eviction  ;  "  free  sale" — that  is  to  say, 
the  right  to  freely  dispose  of  their  lands  to  who- 
soever they  please ;  and  "  fair  rent " — that  is,  a 
power  to  bring  the  question  of  their  rents  before 
a  judicial  tribunal.  Abundant  evidence  has  been 
given  in  preceding  chapters  of  the  existence  of 
the  necessity  for  all  these  reforms.  It  has  been 
seen  how  rack-renting  by  the  landlords  for  cen- 
turies has  brought  a  mass  of  the  Irish  people  to 
a  condition  barely  removed  from  starvation ;  and 
it  has  also  been  seen  how  eviction  raged  like  a 
pestilence  throughout  the  country.  Free  sale  was 
rendered  necessary  by  the  curious  custom  mainly 
obtaining  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  under  which  the 
tenants  were  actually  forbidden  to  sell  their  good- 
will in  the  land  to  the  highest  bidder.  The  land- 
lords there  were  forbidden  by  the  custom  of  the 
province  to  turn  a  tenant  out  if  he  paid  his  rent ; 
but,  at  the  same  time,  they  were  free  to  make  the 
tenant's  remaining  on  his  holding  impossible  by 
frequent  and  outrageous  raising  of  rents.  And 
they  also  exercised  the  right  to  prevent  the  ten- 
ant getting  more  than  a  certain  fixed  sum  for  the 
ofood-will.  This  was  the  oricrin  of  the  demand  for 
free  sale.  These  reforms  the  tenantry  of  the 
country    demanded    with   unanimous   voice,  and 


298  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

the  hope  of  obtaining  them  roused  almost  a 
frenzy  of  excitement  throughout  the  country. 
Between  the  pronouncements  of  Grey  and  those 
of  Butt  on  this  question  there  was  a  certain 
difference.  Grey  was  a  member  of  the  Impe- 
rial Parliament,  and  was  hopeful  that  the  same 
success  would  attend  the  Land  agitation  that  had 
already  rewarded  him  in  his  fight  against  the  Irish 
Church.  He  therefore  taught  the  farmers  to  ex- 
pect that  Mr.  Gladstone  would  be  able  to  pass  the 
House  of  Commons  a  Bill  giving  the  tenantry  of 
Ireland  "  the  three  F's ;  "  while  Mr.  Butt,  on  the 
other  hand,  more  accurately  appreciated  the  situ- 
ation. He  had  declared  over  and  over  again  that, 
in  his  opinion,  it  was  foolish  and  futile  to  look  to 
the  Imperial  Parliament  for  such  a  radical  settle- 
ment of  the  question ;  and  he  taught  the  farmers 
to  rely  on  their  own  organization  and  their  own 
efforts  ;  to  go  on  with  their  movement,  irrespective 
of  the  Parliament. 

The  character  of  the  Land  Bill  of  1870  added 
another  proof  of  the  incapacity  of  the  Imperial 
Parliament  to  deal  with  Irish  affairs.  Mr.  Glad- 
stone had  the  will  to  carry  a  measure  of  as 
large  a  force  as  the  Irish  people  themselves  could 
desire.  He  was  supported  apparently  by  a  party 
of  resistless  power,  for  he  had  a  majority  of 
upwards  of  a  hundred.  Nevertheless  he  had  to 
content  himself  with  bringing  in  a  lame  and  halt- 
ing measure — the  defects  of  which  were  palpable. 


THE   GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  299 

This   was  mainly  because  the  public  opinion  of 
England  on  the  Land  question  was  utterly  un- 
sound.    In  England  the  land  system  is  very  dis- 
tinct in  many  of  its  features  from  the  land  system 
in  Ireland.     In  Ireland   labor  and  ownership  of 
soil  are  indissolubly  united,  and  certain  peculiar 
tenant-rights    are    conceded.      The    agricultural 
parts  of  England  consist  of  large  estates  split  up 
into    extensive    farms,    cultivated    by  a   race  of 
agricultural  laborers  that,  as  a  rule,  do  not  own  a 
rood  of  land.     Ireland,  on  the  other  hand,  con- 
sists of  a  vast  number  of  small  holdinors  owned 
(subject  to  the  landlord's  claims)  and  cultivated 
by  the  same  person.     Up  to  this  period  England 
regarded  her  own  land  system  as  perfect.     The 
depreciation    of    prices    produced   by    American 
competition,     and     other     circumstances,     have 
changed   this  view  considerably  within   the  last 
few  years,  and  a  movement  has  been  started  for 
the  purpose  of  linking  the  ownership  and  cultiva- 
tion of  the  soil  in  England  much  on  the  plan  that 
obtains  in  Ireland.     But  in  1870  England  was  ex- 
ulting in  the  possession  of  the  best  of  land  systems, 
and  such  proposals  as  those  that  were  made  on 
the  part  of  the  Irish  tenantry  were  regarded  as 
wild  and  wicked  communism.    Then  the  landlord 
power  was  able,  as  it  is  able  still,  to  impose  its 
will  upon  the  legislation  of  the  Imperial  Parlia- 
ment.    In  the  House  of  Commons  that  power  is 
still  a  potent  Influence  on  the  Liberal  side  as  well 


300  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

as  on  the  Tory;  for  the  Liberal  party  has  among 
its  foremost  and  most  influential  leaders  men 
with  acres  as  extensive  and  with  ideas  of  landlord 
privileges  as  high  as  those  on  the  Conservative 
benches  opposite.  The  House  of  Lords,  besides, 
is  a  House  entirely  consisting  of  landlords.  It 
is,  in  fact,  an  assembly  mainly  employed  in  the 
preservation  of  landlord  rights — or  landlord 
wrongs.  On  an  English  question  it  is  possible 
occasionally  to  overwhelm  the  landlord  interest 
in  the  two  Houses  in  a  vast  springtide  of  popular 
feeling.  But  English  opinion  can  rarely,  if  ever, 
be  aroused  to  the  same  state  of  excitement  and 
enthusiasm  about  Irish  questions.  Besides  on 
the  land  question  at  this  period  English  opinion 
was  in  one  direction,  Irish  opinion  in  another. 

A  result  of  these  various  circumstances  was 
that  the  Land  Bill  of  1870  was  a  miserable  shift 
rather  than  a  settlement  of  the  land  difficulty  in 
Ireland.  Still  it  gave  the  sanction  of  law  for  the 
first  time  to  the  principle  of  a  joint  interest  of  the 
tenant  with  the  landlord  in  the  soil.  Hitherto 
that  doctrine  though  cherished  by  the  people  had 
been  opposed  by  the  landlords  as  revolutionary 
and  insensate. 

But  this  right  was  acknowledged  by  the  new 
enactment  in  a  very  half-hearted  way.  The  ten- 
ant  could  claim  compensation  for  disturbance; 
that  is  to  say,  if  he  were  turned  out  of  his  hold- 
ing, he  could  demand  a  certain  amount  of  money 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  301 

from  the  landlord.  The  first  defect  of  this  was 
that  compensation  did  not  begin  until  after 
eviction ;  that  is,  until  the  tenant  had  been  placed 
in  a  position  in  which  it  was  impossible  to  suffi- 
ciently compensate  him.  When  the  Irish  tenant 
is  deprived  of  his  farm  he  is  deprived  of  the  sole 
means  of  livelihood  that  the  country  affords  to 
him.  To  evict  a  tenant  from  his  holdino-  then  is 
to  deprive  him  of  all  further  means  of  making  a 
livelihood  within  Irish  shores.  The  only  real  com- 
pensation, therefore,  that  could  be  given  to  a  ten- 
ant for  eviction  would  be  such  a  sum  as  would 
enable  him  to  live  for  the  remainder  of  his  days. 
Under  the  Land  Bill  of  1870  the  scale  of  com- 
pensation was  placed  at  an  infinitely  lower  figure 
than  this.  In  all  holdings  that  did  not  exceed  in 
value  ;!^io  a  year,  according  to  the  Poor  Law 
valuation,  the  tenant  might  claim  as  a  maximum 
seven  years'  rent — and  in  holdings  between  ^10 
and  £t^o  yearly  valuation  five  years'  rent.  It 
need  scarcely  be  said  that  the  maximum  was 
never  reached  by  the  tenant.  The  courts  before 
which  the  cases  were  tried,  consisting  mainly  of 
the  friends  of  the  landlord,  sometimes  of  the 
landlords  themselves,  took  care  to  give  the  ten- 
ant as  low  a  sum  as  possible. 

But  there  was  a  second  fatal  defect  the  mean- 
ing of  which  became  clearer  by-and-by.  Com- 
pensation for  disturbance  could  not  be  given  in 

cases  where  the  tenant  was  evicted  for  non-pay- 
18 


302  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

ment  of  rent.  The  Land  Act  of  1870  did  not 
allow  any  inquiry  as  to  the  amount  of  the  rent. 
The  rent  miofht  have  been  such  a  rack-rent  as  no 
human  being  could  possibly  pay — might  be  a  rent 
that  chronically  kept  the  tenant  in  a  condition 
just  above  starvation — the  normal  condition  of 
rack-rented  tenants.  The  result  of  it  was  that  if 
a  tenant  was  behindhand  with  his  rent  for  a  day 
or  for  a  penny  he  might  be  evicted.  There  was 
no  power  to  prevent  the  landlord  from  evicting, 
and  no  power  to  prevent  him  from  rack-renting. 
By-and-by  there  came  to  Ireland  one  of  those  bad 
harvests  by  which  that  country  has  been  visited 
so  often.  Failure  of  one  crop  removed  the  thin 
partition  that  separated  the  tenant  from  starva- 
tion, and  broke  him  down  in  his  efforts  to 
meet  impossible  rents,  for  rental  was  an  exac- 
tion which  could  barely  be  paid  at  the  best 
of  times.  For  such  a  state  of  things  the  Land 
Act  of  1870  did  not  provide.  The  non-pay- 
ment of  his  rent  by  the  tenant  left  him  absolutely 
at  the  disposal  of  the  landlord.  And  one  season 
of  distress  again  left  the  population  of  Ireland  a 
race  of  tenants-at-will  whom  a  few  landlords  could 
starve,  evict  and  exile.  The  Land  Act  of  1870 
had  broken  down,  and  in  no  place  more  con- 
spicuously than  in  the  north  of  Ireland.  The 
landlords,  shorn  of  a  portion  of  their  privileges, 
resolved  to  make  larger  use  of  the  relics  of  their 
power.     They  could  not  evict  without  compensa- 


THE   GREAT  IRISH   STRUGG'  E.  303 

tion,  but  they  could  raise  the  rents,  and  accord- 
ingly the  raising  of  rents  went  on  immediately 
after  the  passing  of  the  Act  at  a  rate  and  to  an 
extent  never  before  paralleled.  The  raising  of 
rents  of  course  meant  the  increase  of  evictions, 
and  the  increase  of  evictions  meant  the  increase 
of  emigration. 

This  miserable  awakening  from  the  dream  of 
hope  of  1869  produced  a  profound  impression  on 
the  minds  of  the  Irish  farmers.  In  a  native  Par- 
liament, responsible  to  native  opinion,  did  they 
once  more  see  there  was  the  only  chance  of  ob- 
tainine  a  real  settlement  of  their  orrievances. 
Another  and  a  very  different  section  of  the 
population  had  been  tending  in  the  very  same 
direction  through  a  very  different  cause.  The 
destruction  of  the  Irish  Church  Establishment 
had  produced  a  feeling  of  great  exasperation 
among  many  Irish  Protestants,  and  they  began 
to  look  with  favor  on  any  means  which  would 
relieve  them  from  the  control  of  an  assembly 
which,  as  they  thought,  had  forfeited  their  confi- 
dence. The  idea  of  Home  Rule  is  supposed  by 
some  to  be  a  modern  thing,  and  the  events  of 
1870  are  pointed  to  as  having  given  it  birth. 
But  the  Idea  of  orettincr  rid  of  the  Act  of  Union 
has  existed  in  the  Irish  mind  from  the  very  hour 
that  the  Act  of  Union  was  passed.  The  Irish 
people  never  consented  to  the  act,  never  ac- 
knowledged the  act,  never  for  one  year  surren- 


304  cJLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

dered  the  hope  that  it  would  one  time  or  other  be 
withdrawn.  There  is  hardly  an  Irishman  to-day 
whose  early  recollections  are  not  of  the  dream  of 
getting  rid  of  this  act.  The  desire  for  the  restor- 
ation of  the  Irish  Parliament  has  been  constant, 
persistent,  intense — the  only  difference  is  that 
sometimes  its  manifestations  have  been  silent, 
and  at  other  times  loud. 

On  the  19th  of  May,  1870,  a  meeting  took 
place  at  the  Bilton  Hotel,  Dublin.  The  meeting 
was  summoned  by  the  following  circular- 

\Private  and  confidential^ 

Bilton  Hotel,  May  ijth,  1870. 
Dear  Sir  :  You  are  requested  to  attend  a  pre- 
liminary meeting  of  some  of  the  leading  citizens  at 
the  Bilton  Hotel,  on  Thursday  evening  next,  at  8 
o'clock,  for  the  purpose  of  devising  the  best  plan 
(to  be  laid  before  Her  Majesty)  for  promoting 
the  future  interests  and  welfare  of  Ireland. 
N.  B. — The  meeting  will  be  strictly  private. 

The  signatures  to  this  circular  are  the  best 
guide  as  to  the  source  whence  this  new  movement 
came.  They  are  those  of  James  Yokes  Mackey, 
J.  P.,  Graham  Lemon,  W.  H.  Kerr,  W.  Ledger 
Erson,  J.  P.,  Honorary  Secretaries. 

These  gentlemen  were  all  Protestants.  It  will 
thus  be  seen  that  the  new  movement  for  the 
restoration  of  the  Irish  Parliament,  which  is  very 
frequendy  denounced  as  an  anti-Protestant  cru- 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE  305 

sade,  was  brought  into  the  world  under  Protestant 
auspices.  Mr.  Butt  was  the  central  figure  of  this 
gathering.  He  pointed  out  with  the  force  and 
terseness  which  he  had  at  his  command  the 
various  evils  which  an  alien  legislature  had 
inflicted  upon  Ireland,  described  the  daily  increas- 
ing hopelessness  and  misery  of  the  country,  and 
finally  called  upon  the  assembly  to  establish  a 
movement  for  the  restoration  of  Irish  prosperity. 
A  Home  Rule  Association  was  founded,  and  thus 
the  new  movement  was  launched  on  its  way. 

The  Association  resolved  at  making  an  attempt 
at  obtaininof  seats  in  Parliament.  Mr.  Gladstone's 
success  and  speeches  had  the  effect  of  blinding  a 
good  many  people  to  the  essential  unfitness  of 
the  Imperial  Parliament  to  deal  with  Irish  affairs, 
and  accordingly  some  classes  of  the  population, 
and  notably  the  clergy,  in  some  districts  were  in- 
clined to  resent  any  interference  with  the  Glad- 
stone Liberal  candidates  as  both  ungrateful  and 
unwise. 

A  fundamental  essential  of  an  Irish  party,  if  it 
is  to  be  effective  in  the  House  of  Commons,  is 
that  it  should  be  independent  alike  of  both 
English  parties,  that  it  should  vote  for  the  Whig 
or  vote  for  the  Tory  in  exact  accordance  with  the 
demands  of  Irish  interests,  and  that  it  should  use 
its  power  standing  between  the  Whig  and  the 
Tory  for  the  purpose  of  raising  and  dethroning 
Ministries  according  to  the  demands  of  the  Irish 


j^(3(3  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

cause.  But  the  new  Home  Rule  party  consisted 
of  men  who  would  never  consent  to  such  a  doc- 
trine or  such  a  policy  over  and  over  again.  Butt 
tried  to  get  them  to  adopt  this  policy,  and  over 
and  over  again  he  failed.  The  Home  Rule  party 
voted  together  on  the  Irish  question,  it  is  true,  but 
obviously  that  made  no  difference  to  the  English 
parties.  On  all  the  great  divisions  between  the 
English  parties,  the  Tories  in  the  Home  Rule 
party  voted  Tory  and  the  Whigs  voted  Whig. 

Another  essential  of  a  good  Irish  party  is  that 
it  should  not  work  for  and  should  not  accept 
office.  As  has  been  already  pointed  out,  it  is  im- 
possible to  suppose  that  Ireland  could  get  her 
rights  if  her  cause  were  pleaded  by  men  who 
were  asking  favors  from  Eno-Hsh  Ministers.  But 
before  lone  a  number  of  the  Irish  Home  Rule 
party  were  openly  for  sale.  Many  of  them  were 
Whigs,  and  accordingly  could  not  get  much  from 
the  Tory  government.  But  some  of  them  were 
quite  willing  to  take  office  even  from  political 
opponents.  But  it  was  perfectly  clear  that  if 
such  a  party  were  allowed  to  go  on,  and  if  the 
Liberals  came  into  power,  a  large  majority  of 
them  would  forget  all  about  Home  Rule  and 
would  join  the  Liberal  party  as  servile  and 
obedient  followers. 

The  steps  have  already  been  described  by 
which  the  Irish  people  were  saved  from  this  dread 
and  terrible  fate.     Mr.  Parnell  and   Mr.  Biggar 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  307 

had  fortunately  become  members  of  the  new 
body.  They  were  resolved  that  Ireland's  hopes 
should  not  once  more  be  destroyed  by  Tory  or 
Whig  slaves.  They  pressed  forward  their  policy 
in  season  and  out  of  season.  They  roused  the 
country,  they  purified  the  party,  they  once  more 
gave  Ireland  a  chance  and  a  hope. 


CHAPTER  IX, 

OLD    FIGHT   AGAIN. 

WE  brought  up  the  story  of  the  Irish  move- 
ment in  an  earher  part  of  the  volume  to 
the  year  1879.  That  year  again  brought  a  crisis 
in  the  everlasting  Land  question  ;  and  we  found  it 
necessary  to  go  back  in  order  to  explain  to  the 
American  reader  how  it  was  that  the  Land  ques- 
tion in  Ireland  was  different  from  what  it  was  in 
America  and  other  countries.  We  trust  that  the 
American  reader  will  now  see  how  the  circum- 
stances of  Ireland  have  made  it  necessary  that 
the  land  law  should  be  different  in  that  country 
from  what  it  is  elsewhere. 

In  1879  Ireland  was  once  more  face  to  face  with 
a  crisis.  The  failure  of  the  potato  crop  threat- 
ened to  bring  about  a  renewal  of  the  dreadful 
scenes  which  had  been  enacted  in  1846  and  1847 
and  the  following  years ;  and  Parnell  had  thus 
been  compelled  to  take  apparently  extreme  steps 
for  the  purpose  of  rousing  the  country  to  a  sense 
of  its  dangers.  The  country  had  responded  to 
his  call;    and  when  in   1880  the  Tories  at  last 

gave  it  an  opportunity  of  pronouncing  its  voice, 
308 


THE   GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  309 

it  at  once  showed  that  Parnell  represented  its 
views ;  that  his  poHcy  was  its  policy ;  and  that  the 
men  it  wanted  to  send  into  ParHament  were  men 
who  would  follow  his  methods  and  adopt  his 
plans.  But  the  country  and  Parnell — as  so  often 
had  happened  before — were  not  in  a  position  to 
give  full  effect  to  their  wishes.  Parnell  had  to 
fight  the  election  with  limited  resources ;  there 
was  the  same  difficulty  about  candidates  as  in 
1874;  and  Parnell,  besides,  had  not  been  able  to 
get  home  until  the  elections  had  already  been 
three  weeks  in  progress.  The  result  of  it  all  was 
that  while  the  country  was  perfectly  sound  and 
of  one  mind  and  one  heart,  the  representatives 
chosen  were  of  very  heterogeneous  material. 
Some  of  the  old  Whigrs  who  had  degraded  and 
demoralized  the  party  were  again  in  the  National 
ranks,  and  thus  there  were  two  sections  at  the 
very  start;  honest  and  independent  men,  who  had 
gone  into  politics  purely  with  a  view  to  serve  the 
cause  of  Ireland  without  fear  or  favor  or  affec- 
tion ;  and  the  dishonest  and  the  half-hearted  and 
the  office-seeking,  mainly  concerned  with  what 
they  could  make  out  of  Irish  politics  for  their 
own  miserable  selves. 

The  two  sections  were  not  lonor  in  comino-  into 
collision.  The  leader  of  the  Irish  party  is  se- 
lected every  year.  Indeed  he  is  not  called  leader 
officially  at  all.  His  real  title  is  chairman  of  the 
party ;  and  the  chairman  is  chosen  like  all  the 


310  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Other  officials  of  the  party  at  the  beginning  of 
every  Parliamentary  session.  Mr.  Shaw  had 
been  chosen  in  succession  to  Mr.  Butt;  and  when 
the  party  met  in  Dublin  it  had  to  decide  the  ques- 
tion whether  or  not  Mr.  Shaw  would  be  re-elected 
to  the  position.  Mr.  Shaw  since  this  time  has 
fallen  upon  evil  days.  Let  him  then  be  spoken 
of  kindly  and  considerately.  The  defects  of  Mr. 
Shaw  were  those  of  the  head  rather  than  those 
of  the  heart.  He  was  sincerely  anxious  for  the 
welfare  of  Ireland  and  for  the  triumph  of  the 
Home  Rule  cause.  A  stout,  easy-going  man,  with 
an  amiable  temper  and  a  not  very  active  mind,  he 
was  of  opinion  that  a  little  soothing  talk  and 
amiableness  of  action  would  bring  round  every- 
body to  the  reasonable  way  of  thinking ;  and  that 
thus  the  bitter  Orange  Tory  would  join  in  the 
chorus  of  approval  to  the  legislation  which  de- 
creased his  rents  and  annihilated  his  power.  Mr. 
Shaw,  to  put  it  briefly,  believed  in  the  gospel  of 
mush.  Such  a  man  was  plainly  unsuited  for  the 
battle  on  which  Ireland  was  about  to  enter.  The 
moment  was  comine  when  Ireland  was  either  to 
fall  back  into  landlordism,  rack-rent,  eviction, 
starvation,  or  to  go  forth  to  a  future  of  independ- 
ence, prosperity  and  tranquil  labor.  On  the  side 
of  the  landlord  was  the  British  Empire.  Fleets, 
armies,  judges,  juries,  jails — all  these  agencies  of 
government  were  at  the  disposal  of  the  landlord 
caste. 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  311 

Nevertheless  at  this  vital  juncture  the  easy- 
going Mr.  Shaw  was  very  near  being  appointed 
leader.  The  different  men  who  had  been  elected 
were  at  the  time  personally  unknown  to  each 
other.  When  they  entered  the  Council  Chamber 
of  the  city  of  Dublin,  where  this  great  gather- 
ing was  taking  place,  they  had  had  no  oppor- 
tunity whatever  of  meeting  in  consultation  and 
of  exchanging  ideas  and  preparing  a  united  line 
of  action.  Some  of  them,  indeed,  who  were  most 
favorable  to  the  claims  of  Mr.  Parnell  were  sup- 
posed to  be  hostile. 

Nor  had  Mr.  Parnell  himself  taken  any  trouble 
to  put  forward  his  claims.  It  is  the  singular 
fortune  of  this  extraordinary  man  to  have  ob- 
tained all  his  power  and  position  without  effort 
on  his  part,  and  apparently  without  gaining  any 
particular  pleasure  from  his  success.  He  had 
been  down  in  the  country  on  the  night  before  the 
meeting,  and  did  not  reach  Dublin  until  morning. 
Up  to  that  time,  Mr.  Parnell  had  not  seen  any  of 
even  his  own  friends.  But  some  of  them  had 
met  on  their  own  hook ;  had  talked  over  the 
situation ;  and  had  in  a  general  way  adopted  a 
line  of  action.  This  was  to  put  forward,  and  if 
possible  to  carry,  Mr.  Parnell  as  leader.  The 
gentlemen  who  formed  this  nucleus  for  the  meet- 
ing of  the  following  day  were :  Messrs.  John 
Barry,  Comins  McCoan,  Richard  Lalor,  James 
O'Kelly,  Mr.  Biggar  an.d  T.  P.  O'Connor.     Mr. 


312  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Healy  was  not  then  a  member  of  Parliament; 
but  he  was  Mr.  Parneli's  Secretary,  and  he  was 
present  at  the  meeting.  Some  of  these  gentle- 
men met  Mr.  Parnell  the  next  morning  in  the 
street,  as  he  was  on  his  way  to  the  city  hall.  He 
did  not  receive  the  proposal  that  he  should  be 
elected  very  cordially.  His  own  idea  was,  and 
remained  till  an  advanced  period  of  the  meeting, 
that  Mr.  Justin  McCarthy  should  be  elected ;  as 
being  a  man  extreme  enough  in  opinion  for  the 
Parnellites,  and  moderate  enough  in  counsel  for 
the  followers  of  Mr.  Shaw. 

A  debate  of  some  length  took  place,  with  the 
final  result  that  twenty-three  voted  for  Mr.  Par- 
nell, and  eighteen  for  Mr.  Shaw.  The  Lord 
Mayor  of  Dublin,  Mr.  Edmund  Dwyer  Grey, 
presided  over  the  meeting  at  its  start.  When 
the  election  was  over  there  was  an  interval. 
After  this  Mr.  Parnell  quietly  took  the  chair. 
Thus  simply  Mr.  Parnell  was  installed  in  the 
great  position  of  Leader  of  the  Irish  people. 

The  English  papers  did  not  take  much  notice 
of  the  election  at  the  moment ;  but  it  was  felt 
that  the  Imperial  Parliament  would  be  met  in  a 
spirit  of  uncompromising  demand  that  might 
lead  to  great  events  and  to  stormy  times.  Be- 
fore the  meeting:  the  Irish  members  had  con- 
eluded  to  discuss  the  land  question  ;  and  at  once 
it  became  apparent  that  there  were  differences  of 
opinion  that  might  lead  to  an  ultimate  split  be- 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  315 

tween  the  two  sections.  Mr.  Shaw  could  not  get 
beyond  the  old  demand  for  the  "  Three  F's ; " 
and  insisted  that  this  should  be  the  battle-cry  of 
the  new  party.  But  some  of  the  followers  and 
friends  of  Mr.  Parnell  insisted  that  the  time  had 
past  for  dealing  with  the  Irish  question  on  these 
lines,  and  that  a  bold  move  should  be  at  once 
made  towards  the  proprietorship  of  the  soil  by 
the  peasantry  of  Ireland,  as  by  the  peasantry  of 
France  and  Belgium. 

When  the  party  came  to  London,  another, 
though  not  at  first  sight  a  very  serious,  difference 
of  opinion  arose.  As  the  result  of  the  general 
election,  Mr.  Gladstone  had  come  back  with  a 
splendid  majority.  The  fight  had  taken  place  on 
the  foreign  policy  of  England — and  especially  on 
its  policy  in  the  East  and  in  Asia.  Ireland  was 
not  mentioned  often,  though  Lord  Beaconsfield, 
with  characteristic  unscrupulousness,  had  at- 
tempted to  get  a  majority  on  an  anti-Irish  cry. 
The  Liberals  were  uncommitted  so  far  as  Ireland 
was  concerned,  but  there  was  a  general  under- 
standing that  a  Ministry  which  contained  such  a 
man  as  Mr.  Gladstone  would  be  inclined  to  view 
the  demands  of  Ireland  with  favor.  However, 
the  Parnellites  knew  that  a  Liberal  Ministry  has 
dangers  as  well  as  advantages.  The  tribe  of 
Irish  office-seekers  was  already  on  the  watch,  and 
it  was  quite  possible  that  before  very  long  it 
would  be  offering  its  mercenary  service  to  the 


316  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Ministers.  In  that  way  the  party  would  be  de- 
moralized ;  and  Ireland  once  more  would  be 
hopeless  because  betrayed. 

These  and  other  considerations  underlay  the 
question  which  now  came  to  be  discussed  between 
the   different  sections  of  the    Irish    party ;    that 
question  was   where  the  Irish  members   should 
take  their  seats.     It  should  be  explained  to  the 
American  reader  that  in  the  House  of  Commons 
the  rule  is  for  the  party  in    power   to    take  its 
place  on  the  right  of  the  Speaker's  chair.    When 
the  Liberals  are  in  power  they  are  on  the  right 
of  the  Speaker.     When  the  Tories  come  in  they 
pass  over  to  the  opposite  side,  and  sit  on  the 
left  of  the  Speaker's   chair.       The    right   is  the 
Ministerial,  the   left   the  Opposidon  side  of  the 
House.     The  benches  on  each  side  are  divided 
about  half  down  by  a  passage ;  this  passage  is 
known  in  Parliamentary  phraseology  as  the  gang- 
way.    Hitherto  the  Irish  members  had  sat  on  the 
benches  below  the  gangway  on    the    opposition 
side  of  the  House.     There  could  be  no  objection 
to  this  course  as  long  as  the  Liberals  were  out  of 
power;  then   the  Irish  were  naturally  a  part  of 
the  general    opposition   to    the  Tory   Ministers. 
But  the  Liberals  were  now  in  office ;  they  were 
sympathetic ;  and  the  question  rose  whether  the 
Irish  members  should,  by  remaining  on  the  op- 
position side  of  the  House,  make  open  declara- 
tion of  opposition  to  them  as  to  the  Tories.    The 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  3;^^ 

Parnellites  gave  "Yes"  as  the  answer  to  this 
question ;  the  section  led  by  Mr.  Shaw  answered 
"  No." 

An  American  reader  at  first  sight  will  perhaps 
be  inclined  to  smile  at  the  importance  attached  to 
this  apparently  trivial  point ;  but  there  were  im- 
portant issues  underneath  the  question  of  the 
seats.  The  Government  was  friendly  to  Ireland, 
and  no  Minister  had  kindlier  intentions  than  Mr. 
Gladstone.  But  the  Ministry  and  Mr.  Gladstone 
were  the  creatures  of  the  political  forces  around 
them;  and  in  1880,  as  in  every  year  since  the 
Union,  the  wishes  of  Ireland  were  on  one  side 
and  the  political  forces  of  England  pretty  solid 
on  the  other.  Ireland  wanted  a  radical,  almost 
a  revolutionary  change  in  the  Land  laws ;  she 
wanted  equally  a  radical  if  not.  a  revolutionary 
change  in  the  relations  of  the  two  countries; 
and  to  these  changes  the  majority  of  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's supporters  were  just  as  inimical  as  the 
bitterest  Tor)^  If  Ireland,  then,  were  to  pursue 
Radical  ends  she  must  come  into  collision  with 
Mr.  Gladstone  and  the  Liberal  Ministry,  painful 
as  that  might  be.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  in- 
terests of  English  parties  and  not  those  of  Ire- 
land were  to  be  considered  supreme,  the  Irish 
would  be  justified  in  taking  their  places  among 
the  Liberals.  The  Parnellites  thought  —  and 
events  proved  the  justice  of  their  views — that 
it   was    impossible    to    serve    the    God    o{    Irish 


318  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

rights  and  the  Mammon  of  English  parties. 
Mr.  Parnell  and  his  friends  resolved  to  remain 
in  opposition;  Mr.  Shaw  and  his  followers  sat 
among  the  Liberals  like  good  Ministerialists. 
One  of  the  consequences  foretold  by  Mr.  Par- 
nell of  this  action  soon  came  about.  Before 
long  Mr.  Shaw  found  place  after  place  become 
vacant  beside  him ;  his  friends  had  sold  them- 
selves for  place  and  pay. 

Another  and  more  important  of  the  prophecies 
of  Parnell  was  also  realized  before  long.  His  con- 
tention was  that  between  the  demands  of  an  Irish 
Nationalist  party  and  the  will  of  an  English  Lib- 
eral Ministry  there  would  come  irreconcileable 
differences  that  must  lead  to  hostile  collision. 
The  very  opening  day  of  the  session  proved 
this.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Land 
question  had  reached  a  very  acute  stage  in  Ire- 
land. The  farmers  once  more  were  demanding 
the  protection  of  their  lives  and  property  from 
the  destruction  brought  upon  them  by  plunder- 
ing landlords,  and  the  country  had  just  narrowly 
escaped  from  the  jaws  of  famine.  At  the  very 
moment,  indeed,  when  Parliament  met  there  were 
still  800,000  men  and  women  in  the  receipt  of  re- 
lief from  the  various  funds  raised  by  charitable 
organizations  throughout  the  world.  But,  never- 
theless, all  this  tragedy  had  not  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  English  authorities  ;  and  the 
Imperial  Parliament  w^ere  as  ignorant  of  it  all  as 


THE   GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  319 

if  it  had  never  existed.  The  knowledge  in  Eng- 
land on  the  question  was  confined  to  a  vague  im- 
pression that  there  was  some  distress  in  Ireland, 
but  then  that  odious  and  tiresome  country  was 
always  more  or  less  in  distress ;  and  there  was  a 
strong  impression  that  Mr.  Parnell  had  made 
very  violent  and  wholly  unjustifiable  speeches. 
Of  course  all  this  simply  meant  that  the  farmers 
were  once  again  putting  forward  claims  that  no 
British  Ministry  could  possibly  consent  to ;  that 
wicked  agitators  were  stirring  up  the  people  to 
impossible  demands ;  that  murder  was  walking 
abroad  through  the  country;  and  that  if  anything 
were  wanted  in  Ireland  it  was  a  new  Coercion 
Bill  by  which  the  Irish  people  could  be  brought 
to  a  condition  of  good  sense  and  good  temper. 

Meantime  it  may  be  as  well  to  pause  here  for 
a  moment  and  hear  from  the  Irish  people  them- 
selves what  it  was  that  they  demanded.  In  April 
of  1880  there  had  taken  place  a  convention  in 
Dublin  of  the  Land  League,  and  there  the  follow- 
ing platform  of  Land  reform  had  been  laid  down : 

To  carry  out  the  permanent  reform  of  land  ten- 
ure we  propose  the  creation  of  a  Department  or 
Commission  of  Land  Administration  for  Ireland, 
This  Department  would  be  invested  with  ample 
powers  to  deal  with  all  questions  relating  to  land 
in  Ireland,  (i)  Where  the  landlord  and  tenant 
of  any  holding  had  agreed  for  the  sale  to  the 
tenant  of  the  said  holding,  the  Department  would 

19 


320  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

execute  the  necessary  conveyance  to  the  tenant 
and  advance  him  the  whole  or  part  of  the  pur- 
chase-money ;  and  upon  such  advance  being-  made 
by  the  Department  such  holding  would  be  deemed 
to  be  charged  with  an  annuity  of  £^  for  every 
;!/^ioo  of  such  advance,  and  so  in  proportion  for 
any  less  sum,  such  annuity  to  be  limited  in  favor 
of  the  Department,  and  to  be  declared  to  be  re- 
payable in  the  term  of  thirty-five  years. 

(2)  When  a  tenant  tendered  to  the  landlord 
for  the  purchase  of  his  holding  a  sum  equal  to 
twenty  years  of  the  Poor  Law  valuation  thereof 
the  Department  would  execute  the  conveyance 
of  the  said  holding  to  the  tenant,  and  would  be 
empowered  to  advance  to  the  tenant  the  whole 
or  any  part  of  the  purchase-money,  the  repay- 
ment of  which  would  be  secured  as  set  forth  in 
the  case  of  voluntary  sales. 

(3)  The  Department  would  be  empowered  to 
acquire  the  ownership  of  any  estate  upon  tender- 
ing to  the  owner  thereof  a  sum  equal  to  twenty 
years  of  the  Poor  Law  valuation  of  such  estate, 
and  to  let  said  estate  to  the  tenants  at  a  rent 
equal  to  3^  per  cent,  of  the  purchase-money 
thereof. 

(4)  The  Department  or  the  Court  having  juris- 
diction in  this  matter  would  be  empowered  to  de- 
termine the  rights  and  priorities  of  the  several 
persons  entitled  to,  or  having  charges  upon,  or 
otherwise  interested  in  any  holding  conveyed  as 


M.  McDonald, 

Piesiflent  Irish  National   League,   Victoria. 


ai  o 

O  "^ 

ai  -5 

.  o 

>  ^ 

s  s 


a    - 
as   £ 


THE   GREAT  IRISH    STRUGGLE.  320 

above  mentioned,  and  would  distribute  the  pur- 
chase-money in  accordance  with  such  rights  and 
priorities ;  and  when  any  moneys  arising  from  a 
sale  were  not  immediately  distributed  the  Depart- 
ment would  have  a  right  to  invest  the  said  moneys 
for  the  benefit  of  the  parties  entitled  thereto.  Pro- 
vision would  be  made  whereby  the  Treasury  could 
from  time  to  time  advance  to  the  Department  such 
sums  of  money  as  would  be  required  for  the  pur- 
chases above  mentioned. 

The  doctrines  laid  down  in  this  programme 
were  afterwards  in  the  main  adopted  by  the  Im- 
Derial  Parliament,  but  not  until  there  had  been  a 
vast  amount  of  fierce  struo^sflinof  and  bitter  suf- 
ferinor. 

This  platform  formulated  demands  for  the  per- 
manent settlement  of  the  land  problem.  Mean- 
time there  was  a  point  which  demanded  attention 
and  immediate  legislation.  What  was  to  be  done 
with  the  people  whom  the  disastrous  failure  of  the 
crops  made  incapable  of  paying  the  rents  ?  It  was 
now  that  the  defects  of  the  Land  Act  of  1870 
came  out  more  clearly  than  ever  before.  A  vast 
proportion  of  the  Irish  tenants  were  at  the  mercy 
of  the  landlords,  and  the  landlords  were  merciless. 
Evictions  were  going  on  all  over  the  country. 
The  mass  of  poverty  and  hopeless  misery  was 
being  daily  increased,  and  if  the  landlords  were 
allowed  to  go  on  at  the  present  rate,  there  was 
fair  chance  of  a  national  disaster.     To  all  these 


324  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

things  the  reply  of  the  Government  was  absolutely 
nothing".  The  Queen's  speech  contained  para- 
graphs upon  all  possible  subjects,  and  with  regard 
to  almost  every  nation  in  the  Queen's  dominions, 
but  of  Ireland  not  one  word. 

It  was  discovered  that  upon  the  Irish  Land 
question  the  Queen's  speech  was  a  perfect  reflex 
of  the  state  of  mind  among  the  Queen's  ministers. 
On  the  question  of  Ireland  the  ministerial  mind 
was  a  blank.  Mr.  Gladstone  is  too  frank  a  man 
not  to  reveal  to  the  public  at  some  time  or  other 
the  workings  of  his  mind.  Speaking  four  years 
afterwards  to  his  constituents  in  Midlothian,  he 
used  the  following  remarkable  words : 

"  I  must  say  one  word  more  upon,  I  might  say, 
a  still  more  important  subject — the  subject  of  Ire- 
land. It  did  not  enter  into  my  address  to  you,  for 
what  reason  I  know  not ;  but  the  Government 
that  was  then  in  power,  rather,  I  think,  kept  back 
from  Parliament,  certainly  were  not  forward  to 
lay  before  Parliament,  what  was  going  on  in  Ire- 
land until  the  day  of  the  dissolution  came  and  the 
address  of  Lord  Beaconsfield  was  published  in 
undoubtedly  very  imposing  terms.  ...  I  frankly 
admit  that  I  had  much  upon  my  hands  connected 
with  the  doinofs  of  that  Government  in  almost 
every  quarter  of  the  world,  and  I  did  not  know — 
no  one  knew — the  severity  of  the  crisis  that  was 
already  swelling  upon  the  horizon,  and  that 
shortly  after  rushed  upon  us  like  a  flood." 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  325 

This  certainly  is  one  of  the  most  astonishing 
confessions  that  were  ever  made  by  a  Minister, 
and  it  throws  as  much  Hght  as  any  other  speech 
of  Mr.  Gladstone  upon  the  vexed  question  as  to 
whether  the  union  of  the  Leoislatures  is  eood  for 
England  or  for  Ireland.  Of  all  the  Ministers  that 
ever  reigned  in  England,  there  has  never  been 
one  of  more  voracious  reading  or  more  restless 
activity  or  who  more  nearly  approached  to  om- 
niscience than  Mr.  Gladstone.  He  could  speak 
of  a  passage  in  Homer,  a  poem  of  Dante,  a  con- 
ceit of  Voltaire;  of  a  forgotten  passage  in  the 
history  of  Greece  or  in  the  discoveries  of  Sir 
Robert  Peel ;  he  can  discourse  upon  the  deepest 
secrets  of  theology  and  the  highest  problems  of 
statesmanship  or  the  smallest  points  of  detail, 
such  as  railway  fares  and  freight  rates,  with  equal 
ease  and  with  equal  command.  Yet  here  was  a 
great  national  tragedy  taking  place  in  Ireland, 
with  all  the  attendant  horrors  of  a  mighty  national 
convulsion,  and  Mr.  Gladstone,  the  Prime  Minis- 
ter of  England,  within  three  hours'  reach  of  Ire- 
land by  steam,  was  absolutely  ignorant  of  every- 
thino^  oroinQf  on  there.  That  one  fact  alone  was 
one  of  the  most  potent  arguments  that  could  be 
used  in  favor  of  removing  Irish  affairs  from  the 
mercy  of  English  incapacity. 

The  Irish  members  immediately  after  they 
heard  the  Queen's  speech  found  themselves  face 
to  face  with  a  question  of  dispute  about  the  seats 


326  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

in  the  House  of  Commons.  Were  they  to  be 
patient  with  the  Ministry,  to  consult  its  ease  and 
its  interests  and  to  postpone  the  pressing  de- 
mands of  Ireland  until  such  time  as  ministers 
might  consider  opportune  and  convenient?  It 
was  held  that  such  a  course  would  be  a  betrayal 
of  the  interests  and  the  hopes  of  Ireland.  In  the 
face  of  a  tragedy  so  terrible,  of  sufferings  so  keen, 
as  were  racking  Ireland  it  was  decided  that  delay 
was  death,  and  that  it  was  their  duty  as  Irish 
representativ^es  to  press  forward  the  claims  of 
Ireland  without  the  least  regard  for  anything  save 
Ireland's  supreme  agony  and  mighty  need.  Ac- 
cordingly they  at  once  proposed  an  amendment 
to  the  Queen's  speech  insisting  that  the  Land 
question  of  Ireland  required  immediate  dealing 
with.  Their  demands  were  regfarded  either  as 
wicked  or  ridiculous.  Here  was  a  Ministry  just 
come  into  office  scarcely  warm  in  its  place  and 
with  difficulties  to  encounter  and  errors  to  amend 
in  all  parts  of  the  world !  But  the  reply  of  the 
Irish  members  was  that  if  there  were  an  Irish 
Parliament  the  voice  of  Ireland  would  demand 
and  would  receive  immediate  attention  ;  and  that 
It  was  not  the  fault  of  Ireland  that  an  overworked 
Ministry  and  a  Parliament  with  all  the  world  to 
survey  had  the  sole  control  of  Irish  Interests 
and  Irish  fortunes.  .  .  .  Mr.  Shaw  joined  the 
Government  In  Its  policy ;  and  so  the  division 
between    the    two    sections   of    the    Irish   party 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  327 

widened  to  an  impassable  chasm,  and  from  this 
time  forward  they  rarely  if  ever  kept  together. 

The  amendment  to  the  Queen's  speech  was  of 
course  lost,  but  the  Irish  party  were  not  yet  done 
with  the  question.  They  immediately  brought  in 
a  bill  the  object  of  which  was  to  suspend  evictions 
for  a  certain  period  until  Ireland  was  able  to  re- 
cover from  the  stunning  blow  of  the  ruined 
harvest.  The  bill  by  some  miracle  was  allowed 
to  escape  blocking  and  came  before  the  House 
of  Commons  at  two  o'clock  one  morning.  Mr. 
Gladstone  saw  now  that  the  question  could  no 
longer  be  avoided,  asked  for  a  postponement  of 
the  Irish  Bill,  and  in  a  few  days  afterwards 
announced  that  the  Government  themselves  were 
prepared  to  deal  with  the  question  which  this 
bill  raised.  And  thus  within  a  few  days  after  the 
opening  of  Parliament  the  Parnell  party  had 
gained  an  important  victory ;  and  instead  of 
Ireland  being  without  attention  or  without  relief 
it  was  placed  in  the  forefront  of  the  Ministerial 
programme. 

This  was  the  way  in  which  the  measure  known 
as  the  Disturbance  Bill  was  broucrht  into  beingf. 
This  bill  gave  the  power  to  County  Court  Judges 
to  suspend  evictions  in  cases  where,  owing  to  the 
distress,  the  tenant  was  unable  to  pay  the  exist- 
ing rent.  The  bill  led  to  fierce  discussions — the 
landlord  party  on  both  sides  of  the  House  oppos- 
ing it  vehemendy.     In  the  end  it  passed  through 


328  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

the  House  of  Commons ;  but  when  it  got  to  the 
House  of  Lords  it  was  rejected  by  an  overwhelm- 
ing majority.  It  had  not  gone  through  the  House 
of  Commons,  however,  without  extorting  from 
Mr.  Gladstone  some  very  remarkable  words  with 
recrard  to  the  state  of  Ireland.  Thus  he  brouQ^ht 
out  clearly  the  relentless  cruelty  of  the  landlords. 
"  If,"  he  said  on  this  subject,  "  we  look  to  the  total 
numbers  we  find  that  in  1878  there  were  1,749 
evictions;  in  1879  2,607;  and,  as  was  shown  by 
my  right  honorable  and  learned  friend,  1,690  in 
the  five  and  a  half  months  of  this  year — showing 
a  further  increase  upon  the  enormous  increase 
of  last  year,  and  showing  in  fact  unless  it  be 
checked  that  15,000  individuals  will  be  ejected 
from  their  homes  without  hope,  without  remedy 
in  the  course  of  the  present  year."  "  By  the  fail- 
ure of  the  crops  during  the  year  1879  ^^"^^  ^^^ 
of  God  had  replaced  the  Irish  occupier  in  the 
condition  in  which  he  stood  before  the  Land  Act. 
Because  what  had  he  to  contemplate  ?  He  had 
to  contemplate  eviction  for  his  non-payment  of 
rent;  and,  as  a  consequence  of  eviction,  starva- 
tion; and  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say,  in  a  coun- 
try where  the  agricultural  pursuit  is  the  only  pur- 
suit, and  "where  the  means  of  the  payment  of  rent 
are  entirely  destroyed  for  a  time  by  the  visitation 
of  Providence,  that  the  poor  occupier  may  under 
these  circumstances  regard  a  sentence  of  eviction 
as  coming,  for  him,  very  near  a  sentence  of 
death." 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  329 

Very  remarkable  consequences  followed  from 
the  rejection  of  the  Disturbance  Bill  by  the  House 
of  Lords.  There  were  15,000  people  about  to  be 
evicted  from  their  homes — about  to  have  decreed 
against  them  by  the  landlords  sentences  of  death. 
The  tenant  was  left,  therefore,  to  use  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's words  again,  "  without  hope,  without 
remedy." 

The  Government  on  their  side  ought  never  to 
have  brought  in  the  bill,  or  else,  having  brought 
it  in,  oueht  to  have  staked  their  existence  as  a 
government  upon  it.  For  a  while  it  seemed  that 
the  man  mainly  responsible  for  the  government 
of  Ireland  would  adopt  this  course.  Mr.  Forster 
declared  that  if  the  landlords  continued  to  evict 
starving  tenants  he  should  feel  it  his  duty  to  come 
to  Parliament  for  some  protection  for  the  tenants, 
and,  if  that  were  not  afforded,  to  resign  his  office. 
But  Mr.  Forster  was  a  man  bold  in  word  and 
weak  in  action.  In  a  few  days  afterwards  he  was 
assailed  by  the  Tories,  and  he  withdrew  his  words 
and  laboriously  explained  them  away.  This  was 
the  state  of  affairs  when  the  memorable  recess 
of  1880  opened.  One  thing  the  government  had 
done  was  to  appoint  a  commission  to  inquire  into 
the  question,  and  especially  into  the  operation  of 
the  Land  Act  of  1870.  Mr.  Parnell  liad  now  one 
of  the  most  perplexing  problems  that  he  has  ever 
faced  in  his  whole  public  career.  The  Irish  leader 
knew  that  if  he  were  to  attempt  to  take  the  place 


330  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

of  the  law  he  ran  the  risk  of  bringing  both  the 
people  and  himself  into  collision  with  the  au- 
thorities, and  a  collision  might  defeat  the  whole 
movement  and  throw  it  back  once  more  into  the 
slough  of  hopeless  despond.  At  the  same  time 
the  people  must  have  protection.  It  is  a  wonder- 
ful testimony  to  his  skill,  his  exhaustless  resource, 
his  unfailing  nerve,  his  infallible  judgment,  that 
he  was  able  to  conduct  his  campaign  and  at  the 
same  time  to  preserve  the  tenants  against  the 
evils  by  which  they  were  threatened  and  to  keep 
them  all  the  while  out  of  the  meshes  of  the  Brit- 
ish law.  He  preached  again  and  again  the  gos- 
pel that  what  the  tenants  were  to  look  to  was  not 
the  British  Parliament.  He  pointed  out  how  that 
body  had  over  and  over  again  cheated  Irish  hopes, 
and  how  in  its  present  constitution  it  was  incapa- 
ble even  with  such  a  Minister  as  Mr.  Gladstone 
of  carrying  out  really  acceptable  reforms.  The 
result  was  that  the  Land  League  became  a  mag- 
nificent organization  with  a  membership  almost 
conterminous  with  the  farming  population  of  the 
country.  In  this  way  the  Irish  people  were 
brought  to  such  a  position  that  the  landlords  and 
not  the  tenants  became  the  suppliants,  and  the 
tenants  Avere  able  to  approach  Parliament,  not 
with  whines  upon  their  lips,  but  with  defiant  de- 
mands. 

The  uprisal  of  slaves  against  ancient  despotism 
I's  always  accompanied  by  a  certain  amount  of 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  331 

crime,  usually  of  a  brutal  character.  The  revolu- 
tion of  1880  had  not  escaped  the  general  fate,  but 
on  the  whole  it  was  singularly  free  from  grave 
offence.  There  was  never  in  Irish  history  a  pe- 
riod in  which  there  was  so  much  distress,  so  much 
excitement,  and  so  litde  crime  side  by  side.  But 
the  landlords  had  managed  to  get  hold  of  the 
always  hostile  London  press.  Every  offence,  no 
matter  how  small,  was  reported  at  full  length,  and 
the  English  people  were  led  to  believe  that  Ire- 
land at  the  moment  was  a  pandemonium. 

Mr.  Forster  went  backwards  and  forwards  be- 
tween England  and  Ireland  during  this  period. 
He  was  very  greedy  of  applause  and  newspaper 
eulogy,  and  was  deeply  influenced  by  the  attacks 
that  were  universally  made  upon  his  administra- 
tion in  Ireland.  In  the  Cabinet  itself  there  was 
division  of  opinion.  The  Radicals  were  opposed 
to  coercion,  and  the  Whisks  were  rather  favorable 
to  it.  During  one  of  the  struggles  a  very  char- 
acteristic incident  took  place,  which  will  show  how 
the  whole  question  of  Ireland  and  its  fate  is  dealt 
with  in  imperial  councils.  There  was  a  struggle 
on  the  first  day  of  a  Cabinet  meeting  that  lasted 
two  or  three  days.  Mr.  Forster  was  very  mild 
with  regard  to  the  state  of  Ireland,  and  repre- 
sented that  the  accounts  in  the  newspapers  were 
grossly  exaggerated,  and  that  the  country  was  far 
from  being  in  as  bad  a  state  as  people  on  the 
Encrlish  side  of  the  channel  were  led  to  believe. 


332  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

The  next  day  he  represented  Ireland  as  a  pande- 
monium, and  hoarsely  called  for  coercion.  The 
strueele  ended  in  a  drawn  battle.  In  the  mean- 
time  Ministers  were  left  in  a  painful  state  of  sus- 
pense, and  the  majority  of  them  held  their  peace. 
The  newspapers  all  the  time  kept  howling  louder 
and  louder.  Their  lies  and  exao^aerations  were 
not  corrected  by  official  and  authoritative  denials. 
Judgment  against  Ireland  was,  in  fact,  allowed  to 
go  by  default,  the  result  of  which  was  that  the 
demand  for  coercion  became  almost  unanimous. 
Mr.  Forster  allowed  himself  to  be  carried  away. 
He  was  able  to  bring  forward  in  favor  of  his  de- 
mand an  aro^ument  and  a  fact  that  seemed  irre- 
sistible  to  men  unfamiliar  with  the  real  state  of 
affairs.  Coercion  had  been  refused  to  him  in  the 
September  of  1880.  The  outrages  in  that  month 
were  only  167.  In  October  also  there  was  a 
struggle  against  him.  The  outrages  then  were 
only  286.  But  in  November  he  was  able  to  point 
to  the  fact  that  they  had  risen  to  561,  while  in 
December  they  reached  867.  The  tide  of  crime 
apparently  kept  rising  every  hour. 

The  first  step  Avas  taken  in  a  new  policy  by 
bringing  an  action  against  Mr.  Parnell  and  sev- 
eral of  his  colleagues  for  conspiracy.  The  only 
conspiracy  in  which  Mr.  Parnell  had  been  engaged 
was  that  of  saving  the  tenants,  whom  Mr.  Glad- 
stone had  described  as  without  hope  and  without 
remedy,  as   lying   under   sentences    of    eviction 


GLADSTONE  PRESENTING  THE  HOME   RULE  BILL,  i8 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  335 

almost  equivalent  to  sentences  of  starvation,  and 
of  endeavoring  to  raise  to  the  dignity  of  freedom, 
prosperity  and  manhood  a  class  whose  awful  suf- 
ferings for  centuries  have  been  described  in  the 
preceding  pages.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say 
that  no  properly  chosen  tribunal  of  Irishmen 
would  pass  any  verdict  upon  Mr.  Parnell  except 
that  of  having  been,  at  a  most  dangerous  crisis, 
the  best  friend  of  his  country;  and  the  trial,  after 
winding  its  slow  length  along  for  many  weeks, 
ended  in  disagreement  of  the  jury. 

In  January,  1881,  Parliament  was  called  to- 
gether, nearly  a  month  earlier  than  was  usual,  in 
order  to  give  the  Government  time  to  pass 
measures  of  coercion.  It  was  well  known  that 
the  Irish  party  would  meet  these  proposals  with 
obstinate  resistance  and  would  prolong  the  strug- 
gle to  the  very  uttermost  limits  the  rules  of  the 
House  would  allow.  The  strugrale  besfan  on  the 
very  first  night  of  the  session.  The  Irish  mem- 
bers resolved  to  engage  in  the  debate  on  the 
Queen's  speech  as  long  as  they  possibly  could. 
Four  amendments  were  proposed  in  succession, 
and  each  amendment  was  discussed  at  extraordi- 
nary length.  The  Parnell  party  numbered  but 
thirty-five  members,  and  of  these  but  a  small  pro- 
portion were  practised  speakers.  It  thus  came  to 
pass  that,  at  most,  a  dozen  men  had  to  keep  the 
Imperial  Parliament  at  bay  for  night  after  night, 
and  for  week  after  week.     At  last  the  debate  on 


336  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

the  Queen's  speech  was  allowed  to  be  closed,  and 
Mr.  Forster  had  an  opportunity  of  proposing  his 
Coercion  Bill.  The  first  step  in  the  House  of 
Commons  is  to  obtain  leave  to  introduce  a  meas- 
ure and  have  it  printed.  This  stage,  on  most  oc- 
casions, is  not  the  subject  of  prolonged  debate  or 
of  division.  But  the  Parnellites  were  resolved 
that  not  a  single  point  should  be  surrendered 
without  resistance,  and  they  therefore  raised  a 
debate  of  great  length  upon  the  introductory 
stage  of  the  bill.  Meanwhile  a  very  extraordinary 
occurrence  had  taken  place.  Mr.  Forster  had 
carried  his  point  by  arguments  drawn  from  the 
vast  increase  in  the  number  of  crimes  in  the 
months  of  October,  November  and  December. 
These  startling  totals  had  broken  down  the  wav- 
ering  purpose  of  the  Cabinet,  and  had  them  solid 
for  coercion.  But  it  soon  appeared  that  when 
Mr.  Forster  presented  his  totals  he  at  the  same 
time  gave  no  information  as  to  how  they  were 
made  up.  His  colleagues  and  the  public  gen- 
erally assumed  that  when  Mr.  Forster  spoke  of 
561  crimes  in  November  and  867  in  December, 
he  was  speaking  of  serious  crimes — murder,  high- 
way robbery,  shooting  with  intent  to  kill,  mutila- 
tion of  cattle  and  other  offences  of  the  same  kind. 
Mr.  Forster  had,  in  introducing  the  Coercion 
Bill,  given  a  number  of  the  serious  offences — and 
some  of  the  offences  were  very  brutal  indeed — 
and  left  the  impression  upon  the  mind  of  every- 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  337 

body  that  these  were  typical  instances.  When, 
however,  the  Blue  Book  came  to  be  presented,  in 
which  the  crimes  were  given  in  detail,  it  was  dis- 
covered that  a  number  of  these  terrible  crimes 
were  nothing  more  serious  than  threatening  let- 
ters sent  by  foolish  or  mischievous  persons.  An 
examination  of  the  outrages  provoked  shouts  of 
laughter.  Thus  the  very  first  outrage  that  stood 
on  the  Blue  Book  for  the  month  of  October  was 
as  follows:  A  portion  of  the  front  wall  of  an  old 
unoccupied  thatched  cabin  was  maliciously  thrown 
down,  in  consequence  of  which  the  roof  fell  in. 
Another  outraoi-e  was  the  breakinof  of  a  wooden 
gate  with  stones.  Another,  the  breaking  of  sev- 
eral panes  of  glass  in  an  unoccupied  house.  The 
sixth  outrage  reported  from  County  Derry  ran, 
"  Three  perches  of  a  wall  maliciously  thrown 
down."  The  hundredth  in  the  West  Riding  of 
the  County  Galway  was,  "A  barrel  of  coal-tar 
maliciously  spilled."  It  was  further  discovered, 
on  looking  into  the  return  of  outrages,  that  very 
often  one  crime,  by  a  process  of  multiplication, 
was  manufactured  into  four,  five,  six  and  seven. 
It  was  very  easy  to  reach  a  total  of  561  or  867,  if 
offences  like  these  were  dignified  with  the  title  of 
outrages  and  were  made  to  perform  the  same 
operation  as  the  stage  army  of  a  scantily  manned 
theatre. 

These  things  were  brought  before  the  House 
of  Commons  by  Irish  members  and  by  English. 


338  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Mr.  Gladstone  looked  surprised,  bewildered,  and 
had  to  confess  that  the  facts  were  a  revelation  to 
him.  It  was  perfectly  clear  that  Mr.  Forster  had 
obtained  coercion  by  garbled  reports  and  doc- 
tored statistics.  But  it  was  too  late  to  go  back. 
By  this  time,  too,  the  resistance  of  the  Irish  mem- 
bers had  provoked  a  good  deal  of  passion  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  still  more  outside.  The 
Irish  members  felt  bound  to  defend  the  liberties 
of  their  country,  thus  unjustly  assailed,  step  by 
step,  and  inch  by  inch,  and  English  opinion  could 
not  understand  their  action.  The  result  was  that 
the  few  Radicals  who  had  been  inclined  to  stand 
by  the  Irish  members  in  the  first  instance  were 
compelled  to  desert  them  under  the  pressure  of 
public  opinion,  and  the  Irish  party  were  left  to 
fight  the  batde  alone.  A  number  of  violent 
scenes  took  place.  The  struggle  reached  a 
climax  on  Monday,  January  31st.  The  question 
still  discussed  was  leave  to  Introduce  the  bill. 
The  Irish  members  demanded  an  adjournment  at 
the  usual  hour  on  Monday  night.  It  was  refused, 
and  both  sides  prepared  for  an  all-night  sitting. 
The  struggle  went  on  all  through  the  night,  then 
all  through  Tuesday,  wnth  many  wild  and  pas- 
sionate scenes.  Finally,  at  nine  o'clock  on  Wed- 
nesday morning,  It  was  brought  to  a  close.  The 
Speaker,  by  an  exercise  of  authority  never  before 
practised  In  Parliament,  declared  that  the  debate 
had  gone  on  long  enough,  and  closed  It  on  his 


J 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  339 

own  will.  The  Irish  members  vainly  protested, 
and  when  they  found  the  Speaker  determined  to 
go  on,  they  left  the  House  in  a  body,  shouting 
"  Privilege  !  Privilege  !  "  For  a  while  they  de- 
bated whether  they  should  return  to  the  assembly 
or  not,  but  they  finally  decided  that  it  was  their 
duty  to  fight  on.  A  few  hours  afterwards  there 
came  another  starthng  episode  in  the  great  strug- 
gle. Just  before  the  House  met  on  Thursday  a 
rumor  was  whispered  around  that  Mr.  Davitt  had 
been  sent  back  to  penal  servitude.  The  Irish 
members  were  shocked  and  angered  by  this 
wretched  piece  of  political  vengeance  on  a  politi- 
cal opponent.  Mr.  Parnell  raised  the  question  in 
the  House  of  Commons.  He  was  answered 
curtly,  almost  insolently.  Then  he  interrupted 
the  Prime  Minister,  was  called  to  order,  refused 
to  obey  the  ruling  of  the  chair,  and  w-as  suspended 
by  the  Speaker  and  ordered  to  leave  the  House. 
The  same  thing  happened  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Dil- 
lon and  of  many  other  Irish  members,  with  the 
final  result  that  the  following  were  suspended: 
Messrs.  Parnell,  Finigan,  Barry,  Biggar,  Byrne, 
Corbet,  Daly,  Dawson,  Gill,  Gray,  Healy,  Lalor, 
Leamy,  Leahy,  Justin  McCarthy,  McCoan, 
Marum,  O'Donoghue,  the  O'Gorman  Mahon,  W. 
H.  O'Sullivan,  O'Connor  Power,  Redmond,  Sex- 
ton, Smithwick,  A.  M.  Sullivan,  and  T.  D.  Sul- 
livan. 

In  their  absence  on  the  previous  Wednesday 
20 


340  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

leave  had  been  granted  for  the  introduction  of 
the  Coercion  Bill.  The  measure  was  still  op- 
posed and  the  Prime  Minister  brought  in  rules 
which  gave  the  Speaker  the  power  to  close  the 
discussion  not  only  on  a  certain  day  but  at  a  cer- 
tain hour.  Despite  of  all  this,  it  was  not  until 
nine  weeks  from  the  opening  of  the  session  that 
Mr.  Forster  had  passed  through  the  third  reading 
of  the  two  Coercion  Bills — the  one  suspending 
the  Habeas  Corpus,  the  other  authorizing  the  dis- 
armament of  the  Irish  people. 

It  was  in  the  session  thus  inauspiciously  opened 
that  the  Land  Bill  of  l88i  was  introduced.  The 
measure  was  one  which  would  have  been  accepted 
with  frenzied  joy  in  1852,  and  which  in  1870 
would  probably  have  been  accepted  as  a  full  and 
final  settlement  of  the  question.  It  granted  "  the 
three  F's,"  and  thus  rescued  the  Irish  tenant  at 
last  from  raclc-renting  and  from  capricious  and 
arbitrary  eviction.  But  the  time  had  passed  when 
the  Irish  would  be  satisfied  with  such  a  moderate 
settlement.  The  doctrine  of  obtainincr  the  owner- 
ship  of  the  soil,  through  the  aid  of  the  state,  had 
taken  a  firm  hold  of  their  minds,  and  a  bill  which 
would  have  been  more  than  they  would  have  ex- 
pected if  they  had  trusted  to  Mr.  Gladstone  and 
the  Imperial  Parliament  alone  was  less  than  they 
demanded  now  that  they  had  an  organization  of 
their  own  and  an  independent  Irish  party. 

However,  apart  from  the  deficiency  of  the  Land 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE  341 

Bill  of  1 88 1  as  a  final  settlement  of  the  Land 
question,  it  was  most  defective  with  regard  to  a 
very  miportant  point  in  the  immediate  future. 
The  landlords  having  exacted  impossible  rents 
had  always  the  tenants  in  their  debt,  and  instead 
of  acting  after  the  generous  and  sensible  manner 
of  landlords  in  other  countries,  they  had  kept 
their  debts  upon  their  books  in  order  to  always 
retain  the  tenant  in  a  state  of  abject  depend- 
ence. Some  landlords  had  actually  kept  out- 
standlngf  airalnst  the  tenants  debts  dating  from 
1846  and  1847.  The  tenant  was  in  most  cases 
lialf  a  year  in  arrear,  and  the  rent  that  he  thus 
owed  left  the  tenant  subject  to  eviction  at  any 
hour  that  the  landlord  pleased.  It  may  be  said 
that  the  Landsdowne  estate  had  a  bad  eminence 
in  this  respect  as  In  many  others.  It  is  perfectly 
clear  that  there  was  no  use  whatever  in  giving 
the  tenants  fixity  of  tenure  if  these  detestable 
arrears  still  remained  The  landlords  had  noth- 
ing to  do  but  to  bring  an  action  for  ejectment, 
and  every  tenant  who  owed  a  farthing  throughout 
the  country  could  be  mercilessly  evicted.  It 
turned  out  that  there  were  nearly  100,000  ten- 
ants in  the  country  in  this  position,  and  thus  the 
Land  Bill  to  them  was  as  the  Dead  Sea  fruits 
turned  to  ashes.  These  facts  were  brought  again 
and  ao-ain  before  the  attention  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  but  Mr.  Forster  refused  to  properly 
consider  them,  and  the  result  was  that  the  Land 


342  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Bill  passed  in  spite  of  the  protest  of  the  Irish  party. 
Another  and  a  graver  objection  was,  that  the 
Land  Courts  to  which  the  question  of  fixing  the 
rent  would  be  referred  were  courts  held  nearly 
altogether  by  the  nominees  of  landlords  or  their 
friends.  Lord  Selborne,  then  Lord  Chancellor, 
declared  that  the  Land  Bill  would  restore  and  not 
diminish  the  value  of  the  landlords'  property. 
Lord  Carlingford  also  announced  that  the  pro- 
visions of  the  bill  would  cause  the  landlords  no 
money  loss  whatever.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to 
remind  the  reader  that  the  fact  dwelt  upon  by  the 
Irish  leaders  w^as  that  the  rent  of  Ireland  was  far 
and  away  beyond  the  capacity  of  the  Irish  tenants 
to  pay;  that  this  rental  kept  them  in  a  state  of 
hopeless  poverty,  and  that,  unless  therefore  there 
were  a  revolutionary  reduction  in  the  rent-rolls, 
the  tenants  had  no  chance  whatever  of  reaching  a 
condition  of  prosperity,  not  even  an  ordinarily 
decent  living. 

These  various  facts  presented  to  Mr.  Parnell 
and  his  colleagues  a  very  important  problem. 
Would  they  or  would  they  not  dissolve  the  Land 
League  ?  would  they  or  would  they  not  advise 
tenants  to  go  into  the  Land  Courts?  They 
held  two  conventions  in  succession  ;  at  those  con- 
ventions there  was  a  large  party  that  denounced 
the  Land  Act,  and  declared  that  the  only  safety 
for  the  tenant  was  to  keep  out  of  it  altogether. 
This  party  had  in  their  minds  the  idea  that  the 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  343 

time  had  come  for  a  final  and  decisive  conflict 
with  landlordism,  and  that  if  any  time  were  spent 
in  skirmishes  or  truces  the  golden  opportunity 
would  pass.  This  party  had  in  their  minds  the 
idea  that  the  proper  thing  to  do  was  to  raise  the 
"  No  Rent "  cry ;  and  in  that  way  to  bring  the 
landlords  to  their  knees,  and  so  to  compel  a 
transfer  of  the  ownership  of  the  soil  on  reason- 
able terms  to  its  tillers  and  occupiers.  Mr.  Parnell, 
however,  had  very  serious  doubts  of  the  success 
that  would  attend  the  No  Rent  movement — doubts 
that  were  justified  by  subsequent  experiences. 
He  adopted  a  more  cautious  policy,  and  sug- 
gested that  the  tenants  should  employ  a  double 
method.  In  the  first  place  they  should  test  the 
Land  Courts  by  sending  a  number  of  test  cases 
before  them,  and  if  the  courts  gave  just  decisions 
that  they  should  then  be  encouraged  to  go  on.  At 
the  same  time  the  organization  was  to  be  main- 
tained  in  its  full  strength  ;  and  to  any  person  who 
knew  the  circumstances  of  Ireland  this  policy 
would  at  once  be  understood.  The  Commissioners 
of  Land  Courts,  with  the  exception  of  the  three 
heads  of  the  departments,  were  officials  appointed 
for  certain  limited  periods.  Their  proceedings 
had  to  be  approved,  and  could  be,  and  frequently 
were,  brought  before  the  Houses  of  Parliament 
for  discussion  and  criticism.  Accordingly  the 
acts  of  the  sub-commissioners  were  subject  to  final 
review  by  a  tribunal  which  was  almost  entirely  on 


344  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

the  side  of  the  landlords.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  landlords  took  full  advantage  of  the  power  of 
reviewing  the  action  of  the  Land  Commissioners 
which  the  Land  Act  gave.  Every  commissioner 
that  did  anything  like  justice  or  any  approach 
to  justice  to  the  tenant  was  made  the  subject  of 
question  after  question  to  the  ministers,  and 
when  the  time  came  for  renewing  the  terms  of 
office  all  commissioners  were  dismissed  to  a  man 
who  had  showed  sympathy  with  the  tenant.  Mr. 
Parnell  therefore  properly  judged  that  unless 
there  v^ere  an  immense  pressure  on  the  other  side 
the  Land  Courts  were  sure  to  do  injustice  as  be- 
tween landlord  and  tenant.  Mr,  Parnell,  however, 
was  not  allowed  to  pursue  his  policy.  The  Govern- 
ment, afraid  that  the  Land  Act  would  break  down, 
resolved  upon  a  bold  stroke.  On  the  morning 
of  Thursday,  October  13th,  1881,  Mr,  Parnell  was 
arrested  under  the  Coercion  Act  and  was  placed 
in  prison.  Mr.  John  Dillon,  Mr.  O'Kelly  and  Mr. 
Sexton  w^ere  apprehended  immediately  afterward, 
and  Mr  William.  O'Brien,  the  editor  of  United 
Ireland,  soon  followed  them.  The  League  was 
suppressed,  a  •' No  Rent  "  manifesto  was  issued 
in  reply,  and  so  there  began  a  fierce  struggle 
between  coercion  on  the  part  of  the  Government 
and  resistance  on  the  side  of  the  people. 


CHAPTER   X. 

IN    THE    DEPTHS. 

I'^HERE  now  began  a  fierce  and  merciless 
war  between  the  Irish  people  and  the  Brit- 
ish authorities.  Coercion  was  given  full  swing, 
and  went  on  its  way  from  excess  to  excess  till 
there  was  scarcely  a  method  of  despotism  not 
resorted  to.  One  of  Forster's  first  acts  was  to 
employ  a  number  of  retired  or  dismissed  military 
men  to  be  intrusted  with  the  duty  of  putting 
down  all  free  expression  of  opinion.  Mr.  Clifford 
Lloyd  was  the  very  worst  specimen  of  this  gang 
— a  man  of  violent  temper,  of  ferocity,  and  of  an 
utter  want  of  scruple.  The  character  of  Mr. 
Lloyd  may  be  estimated  from  the  fact  thaj;  in  spite 
of  his  powerful  patronage  he  had  afterwards  to  be 
withdrawn  from  Egypt;  his  manners  were  too 
offensive  even  for  the  mild  Egyptian  to  endure. 
This  ruffian  proceeded  to  make  the  most  reckless 
use  of  the  powers  surrendered  to  him.  He  ar- 
rested a  village  almost  to  the  last  man  ;  he  insulted 
women  in  the  grossest  manner.  If  they  stood  in 
the  street  they  were  accused  of  obstructing  the 
pathway,  or  on  some  other  frivolous  charge  were 

345 


346  GLADSTONE— PARNELL, 

haled  before  a  magistrate  and  subjected  to  indig- 
nities which  in  civiHzed  countries  are  reserved  for 
the  abandoned.  Gaining  audacity  as  he  went 
along,  Mr.  Lloyd  had  brought  before  him  some 
of  the  best  women  of  the  country  who  had  em- 
ployed themselves  in  bringing  succor  or  in  inspir- 
ing courage  in  the  hapless  tenants  who  were  now 
abandoned  to  the  mercy  of  their  landlords. 

As  far  back  as  Edward  III.  an  act  was  passed 
the  object  of  which  was  to  put  down  the  vagrancy 
which  then  flourished.  The  act  was  loose  in  its 
terms  so  as  to  be  able  to  catch  hold  of  all  tramps 
and  prostitutes  whom  the  authorities  wished  to 
incarcerate.  It  was  under  this  obsolete  act  that 
some  of  the  most  refined  and  heroic  women  of 
Ireland  were  sent  to  solitary  confinement  for 
periods  often  of  six  months.  Children  twelve 
years  of  age  and  crying  after  the  manner  of  chil- 
dren were  placed  in  the  dock  on  the  charge  of 
endangering  the  peace  of  the  queen.  There  is 
in  Ireland  a  popular  song  known  as  "  Harvey 
Duff"  It  is  a  satire  of  a  rather  harmless  charac- 
ter directed  against  the  police.  The  singing  of 
"  Harvey  Duff"  was  raised  in  these  days  into  high 
treason,  and  boys  and  girls  who  ventured  to  hum 
it  as  they  passed  the  sacred  form  of  a  policeman 
were  first  brutally  ill-treated — in  one  case  a  girl 
twelve  years  of  age  was  stabbed — and  then 
brought  before  the  magistrates. 

In  the  meantime  every  newspaper  that  said  a 


THE  GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  347 

word  against  these  acts  was  promptly  suppressed, 
and  every  man  who  uttered  a  protest  was  sent 
to  prison,  Man  after  man  was  seized  who  had 
no  hold  on  public  affection.  The  gaols  were 
crowded,  and  finally  the  numbers  of  persons  im- 
prisoned without  prospect  of  trial  reached  the 
enormous  total  of  a  thousand  and  upwards. 
Evictions  at  the  same  time  proceeded  apace.  If 
the  Irish  people  were  a  foreign  enemy  at  the 
gates,  they  could  not  have  been  assailed  with  a 
more  lavish  expenditure  of  money  and  force. 
Foot  soldiers,  cavalry,  artillery,  commissariat  vans, 
blue  jackets,  vessels  of  war,  to  say  nothing  of 
13,000  armed  policemen — all  these  were  placed 
at  the  disposal  of  the  landlords  and  assisted  in 
driving  out  starving  tenants  to  the  ditch.  But 
this  odious  system  did  not  even  bear  the  fruits 
for  which  it  was  intended.  Crime,  instead  of  de- 
creasing, doubled  throughout  the  country  and 
became  daily  of  a  fiercer  and  more  terrible  char- 
acter. The  Irish  people,  in  fact,  were  at  bay,  and 
resorted  to  those  savage  methods  of  reprisal  which 
among  all  peoples  are  the  answers  of  impotent 
despair  to  the  brutal  omnipotence  of  a  despotism. 
In  1880,  before  coercion  came  into  operation, 
there  were  eio-ht  cases  of  murder  in  Ireland  and 
twenty-five  of  firing  at  the  person.  In  1881,  dur- 
ing the  half  of  which  coercion  was  in  existence, 
there  were  seventeen  murders  and  sixty-six  cases 
of  firing  at  the  person.     In  the  first  six  months 


348  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

of  1882,  when  the  regi77ie  of  coercion  was  at  Its 
worst,  there  were  fifteen  murders  and  forty  cases 
of  firing  at  the  person.  The  trials  showed  clearly 
that  all  serious  offences  were  actually  twice  as 
many  since  the  introduction  of  coercion  as  they 
were  before. 

Public  opinion  in  England  can  stand  Russian 
methods  of  government  for  only  a  certain  length 
of  time,  and  the  accounts  of  these  various  epi- 
sodes in  government  at  last  began  to  produce 
a  strong  reaction.  Indeed,  the  question  was 
taken  up  b}'  the  Tory  party,  and  a  member  of 
that  party,  Sir  John  Hay,  brought  forward  a 
resolution  denouncing  imprisonment  without  trial. 
Mr.  W.  H.  Smith,  an  ex-Cabinet  Minister,  put 
upon  the  table  of  the  House  a  resolution  setting 
forth  a  peasant  proprietary  as  the  only  solution 
of  the  Irish  Land  question.  Here,  indeed,  was 
Nemesis  with  a  vengeance  !  The  contention  of 
the  Land  League  and  Mr.  Parnell  throughout  was 
that  a  peasant  proprietary  was  the  only  solution 
of  the  Land  problem.  It  was  mainly  for  preaching 
that  doctrine  that  Mr.  Parnell  and  a  thousand 
other  men  had  been  placed  in  gaol,  and  here, 
now,  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  landlord 
party  coming  forward  to  declare  that  Mr.  Parnell 
and  his  colleaeues  were  rieht.  Ministers  took 
alarm.  None  of  them  were  in  real  sympathy 
with  Mr.  Forster's  regime;  they  were  doubtful 
of  its  wisdom,  and  could  not  help  being  convinced 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  349 

of  its  want  of  good  result.  The  consequence 
was,  that  Mr.  Parnell  was  released,  and  that  the 
Government  undertook  practically  to  do  every- 
thing that  he  had  demanded  before  his  imprison- 
ment. It  had  been  declared,  as  has  been  seen, 
by  his  party,  that  the  Land  Act  was  worthless  to 
the  vast  proportion  of  the  tenants,  owing  to  the 
heavy  arrears  they  owed  to  the  landlords.  Mr. 
Gladstone  undertook  to  bring  in  an  Arrears  Bill, 
for  the  purpose  of  wiping  out  their  debts  and 
thus  bringing  them  within  the  compass  of  his 
land  legislation.  Mr.  Parnell  and  his  colleagues 
had  complained  and  clearly  shown  that  the  clause 
of  the  Land  x'\ct  with  regard  to  the  improvements 
made  by  tenants  did  not  sufficiently  protect 
the  tenants.  Mr.  Gladstone  undertook  to  amend 
the  Land  Act  of  iSSi  in  this  regard.  Mr. 
Parnell  and  the  Land  League  had  declared  that 
a  peasant  proprietary  was  the  only  practical  and 
final  settlement  of  the  Irish  Land  question.  Mr. 
Gladstone  undertook  to  establish  the  principle  of 
a  peasant  proprietary.  Finally,  Mr.  Parnell  pro- 
tested against  coercion  as  a  method  of  govern- 
ment. Mr.  Gladstone  undertook  to  drop  coercion, 
and  began  by  dismissing  Lord  Cowper  and  Mr. 
Forster.  In  fact,  every  single  one  of  Mr.  Par- 
nell's  demands  was  listened  to  and  accepted.  He 
and  the  British  Empire  had  stood  in  deadly  and 
merciless  conflict,  and  unarmed  and  from  his 
gaol  he  dictated  the  terms  of  capitulation. 


350  GLADSTONE— PARNELL 

When  Mr.  Parnell  appeared  in  the  House  of 
Commons  everybody  came  forward  to  greet 
him.  Treacherous  friends  and  open  enemies 
rushed  up  to  shake  his  hand,  and  the  House  of 
Commons  bowed  before  him.  Everybody  felt 
that  almost  the  last  staofe  in  the  Irish  conflict  had 
been  reached.  A  leader  who  had  proved  his 
power  over  the  people  to  such  an  extent,  and  had 
achieved  so  complete  a  victory  over  such  tre- 
mendous odds,  might  fairly  demand  that  the 
government  of  the  country  should  be  put  into 
his  hands ;  and,  in  fact,  everybody  felt  that  the 
release  of  Mr.  Parnell  meant  the  speedy  advent  of 
Home  Rule. 

But  the  evil  fortune  that  has  so  often  blighted 
the  Irish  cause  on  the  threshold  of  victory  in- 
tervened, and  in  one  day  the  hopes  of  Ireland 
were  blasted,  and  the  cause  of  Irish  liberty  was 
thrown  back  for  years.  Lord  Frederick  Caven- 
dish had  orone  over  to  Ireland  as  the  new  Chief 
Secretary,  and  as  the  bearer  of  the  new  message 
of  peace  to  the  Irish  people.  He  was  a  man  of 
amiable  temper,  and  of  high  purpose,  and  well 
fitted  in  every  way  to  be  the  medium  of  recon- 
ciliation. On  the  very  day  of  his  arrival  in  Dub- 
lin, he  and  Mr.  Bourke,  the  Under  Secretary, 
were  assassinated  in  the  Phoenix  Park.  This  was 
on  May  6th.  It  turned  out  afterwards  he  was 
unknown  to  those  who  killed  him,  and  that  his 
death  was  due  to  the  accidental  circumstance  of 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  351 

his  being-  alone  with  Mr.  Bourke.  The  tragedy 
created  terrible  excitement  and  anger  in  Eng- 
land, A  cry  for  vengeance  was  raised,  and  the 
Ministry  had  to  bow  before  the  storm,  and,  hav- 
ing dropped  coercion,  were  obliged  once  more  to 
introduce  it.  Mr.  Parnell  was  assailed  with  spe- 
cial bitterness ;  and  Mr.  Forster  was  once  more 
elevated  to  the  position  and  eminence  which  he 
had  forfeited.  In  a  remarkable  passage  of  his 
evidence  by  James  Carey,  a  man  who  played  a 
prominent  part  in  the  conspiracy,  and  afterwards 
betrayed  his  companions,  here  is  an  extract 
from  his  evidence  in  cross-examination  by  Mr. 
Walsh : 

O.  When  you  became  a  member  of  the  Order 
of  Invincibles,  was  it  for  the  object  of  serving 
your  country  that  you  joined?     A.  Well,  yes. 

Q.  And  at  that  time  w^hen  you  joined  with  the 
object  of  serving  your  country,  in  what  state  was 
Ireland  ?     A.  In  a  very  bad  state. 

O.  A  famine,  I  think,  was  just  passing  over 
her?     A.  Yes. 

Q.  The  Coercion  Bill  was  in  force,  and  the 
popular  leaders  were  in  prison  ?     A.  Yes. 

O.  And  was  it  because  you  despaired  of  any 
constitutional  means  of  serving  Ireland  that  you 
joined  the  Society  of  Invincibles  ?  A.  I  believe 
so. 

However,  England  was  not  in  a  humor  to  listen, 
and  the   Crimes  Act  was  passed  in  the  House  of 


352 


GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 


Commons  after  a  vain  resistance  by  the  Irish 
members.  This  act  en?bled  juries  to  be  packed 
and  other  methods  to  be  adopted  by  which  in 
despotic  countries  prisoners  are  cajoled  or  ter- 
rorized into  giving  evidence  true  or  false.  A 
number  of  men  were  put  upon  their  trial  before 
juries  consisting  entirely  of  landlords  exasperated 
by  the  loss  of  power  and  by  the  crimes  committed. 
A  number  of  men  were  in  this  way  convicted  and 
were  hanged.  A  sickening  doubt  afterwards 
arose  as  to  whether  these  men  were  innocent  or 
guilty,  and  this  was  especially  the  case  with  re- 
gard to  a  man  named  Myles  Joyce.  His  case  was 
debated  over  and  over  again  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  it  is  still  a  question  of  doubt  as  to 
whether  he  was  condemned  justly.  A  man  named 
Bryan  Kilmartin  was  sent  to  penal  servitude  on 
a  charge  of  having  shot  at  a  man  with  intent  to 
murder.  The  judge  declared  emphatically  that 
the  man  was  guilty  beyond  all  doubt.  Attempt 
after  attempt  to  have  his  case  investigated  failed; 
but  finally  the  matter  was  brought  before  the 
House  of  Commons.  It  was  proved  that  a  man 
who  bad  gone  to  America  immediately  after  the 
crime,  and  who  had  on  his  death-bed  confessed  to 
the  offence,  was  the  real  culprit,  and  Bryan  Kil- 
martin, proved  innocent,  had  to  be  released. 

In  Parliament  all  this  time  the  Irish  party  op- 
posed as  strenuously  as  they  could  the  ministry 
of  Mr.  Gladstone.     They  thought  that  the  pro- 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  353 

ceedings  in  Ireland  were  entirely  unjustifiable. 
For  a  long-  time  they  voted  steadily  on  all  critical 
occasions  against  the  Ministry,  with  the  result 
that  they  more  than  once  endangered  its  exist- 
ence. The  influence  which  the  Irish  party  was 
able  to  exercise  over  these  divisions  is  worth  con- 
sidering under  present  circumstances,  when  the 
enemies  of  Ireland  seem  to  be  once  more  In  a 
majority.  The  Liberal  •  party  at  the  start  num- 
bered 351,  and  then,  besides,  they  had  the  con- 
stant support  of  23  Home  Rulers  who  had  de- 
serted the  Irish  party.  The  Tories,  on  the  other 
hand,  had  only  238,  and  the  Home  Rulers  num- 
bered about  '^'j.  The  Government  thus  were  374 
against  275 — a  majority  of  99.  Yet  on  a  division 
on  the  Cloture  resolution  the  Government  major- 
ity was  reduced  to  39.  On  one  of  the  votes  this 
majority  was  reduced  to  28;  on  another  it  was  but 
14,  and  finally,  on  June  8,  1885,  the  majority  en- 
tirely disappeared,  and  the  Government  was  left 
in  a  minority  and  had  to  resign.  Before  this  time, 
however,  the  Government  had  passed  two  meas- 
ures of  the  utmost  importance  to  Ireland.  They 
had  reduced  the  franchise,  and  in  this  way  had 
raised  the  electorate  from  a  quarter  of  a  million 
to  three-quarters  of  a  million.  Tliey  at  the  same 
time  swept  away  by  the  Redistribution  Bill  a  num- 
ber of  the  small  and  rotten  boroughs.  The  re- 
sult of  it  was  that  the  mass  of  the  Irish  people 
had  for  the  first  time  an  opportunity  of  making 


354  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

their  views  known,  and  of  returning  a  really  united 
party  to  Parliament. 

The  advent  of  the  Conservative  Government 
produced  some  excellent  changes.  Shrewd  ob- 
servers say  that  a  weak  Conservative  adminis- 
tration is,  of  all  others,  the  most  radical.  De- 
pendent for  existence  on  the  mercy  of  the  Liberal 
Opposition,  it  brings  forward  liberal  measures,  and 
these  measures,  instead  of  being  opposed  and  ob- 
structed by  the  Liberal  Opposition,  are  supported 
and  accelerated.  Then  a  Conservative  ministry 
has  always  the  House  of  Lords  at  its  disposal. 
Whatever  bill  a  Conservative  minister  advocates, 
the  House  of  Lords  accepts.  On  the  other  hand, 
a  Liberal  ministry,  desirous  of  passing  any  reform, 
has  to  have  at  its  back  a  tide  of  almost  revolu- 
tionary passion  in  order  to  overcome  the  obsti- 
nate resistance  of  the  Tory  Opposition.  And  so 
it  happened  in  1885  with  the  Tory  Government. 
The  Tory  party  is  the  party  of  landlords  and  of 
coercion,  yet  the  moment  they  came  into  office 
they  dropped  all  mention  of  coercion.  They  even 
promised  an  inquiry  into  some  of  the  cases  of 
alleged  miscarriage  of  justice.  They  passed  a 
Laborers'  Act,  which  enabled  the  laborers  of 
Ireland  to  obtain  better  house  accommodation. 
And,  above  all,  they  passed  a  large  bill  for  the 
purpose  of  transforming  the  rent-paying  occupier 
into  a  peasant-proprietor. 

The  eeneral  election  came  in  the  November  of 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  355 

1885,  and  it  was  the  desire  of  the  Irish  party  to 
bring  into  power  a  weak  Conservative  government 
dependent  for  its  existence  upon  the  Irish  party. 
They  contended  that  such  a  government  would  be 
wilHnpf  to  eive  Ireland  Home  Rule,  and  that  if 
only  it  could  make  up  its  mind  to  do  this  it  could 
pass  the  measure  without  any  of  the  friction  or 
passion  which  would  accompany  similar  proposals 
on    the   part    of    the   Liberals.      They    received 
abundant  proofs  that  the  Tories  were  disposed  to 
grant  Home  Rule.     Lord  Carnarvon,  then  Tory 
Lord-Lieutenant  for  Ireland,  sought  and  obtained 
an    interview   with    Mr.    Parnell,   and    the  Tory 
minister   and    the    Irish   leader  were    practically 
agreed  that  Home  Rule  was  just  and  necessary. 
Lord  Randolph  Churchill  gave  abundant  indica- 
tions that  his  views  were  the  same,  and  expressed 
in  private  his  firm  conviction  of  both  the  justice 
and  the  certainty  of  Home  Rule.     These  private 
expressions  of  views  were  confirmed  by  the  omis- 
sion in  all  the   public  speeches  of  the  Tories  of 
any  hostility  to  the  claims  of  Ireland,  with  occasion- 
ally a  vague  hint  that  these  claims  should  not  be 
summarily  dismissed.     The  result  of  all  this  was 
that  at  the  polls  there  was  an  alliance  between 
the  Tories  and  the  Irish  voters  in  England.    This 
alliance   secured  the  Tories  a  large  number  of 
seats,  but  not  sufficient  to  give  them  a  chance  of 
carrying  on  the  government.     They  were  in  a 
large  minority,  but  they  had  in  their  own  ranks 

21 


356  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

twenty  or  twenty-five  Orangemen  of  the  nar- 
rowest type,  who  would  have  deserted  them  the 
first  moment  they  indicated  an  intention  to  deal 
justly  with  the  claims  of  Ireland.  There  was  an 
internal  struofsile  in  the  Cabinet,  with  the  result 
expressed  by  Lord  Randolph  Churchill  with  cynic 
frankness :  "  I  have  done  my  best  for  you  and 
have  failed;  and  now,  of  course,  I  shall  do  my  best 
against  you."  Lord  Carnarvon,  a  conscientious 
man,  resigned  office.  The  Tory  party  resolved 
to  abandon  the  hopeless  task  of  keeping  a  govern- 
ment together,  and  on  January  26th  announced 
that  they  would  bring  in  a  bill  for  land  purchase, 
and  a  bill  for  suppressing  the  National  League. 
They  knew,  when  making  this  announcement, 
that  they  would  compel  a  hostile  vote  that  night 
acjainst  them  on  an  amendment  brought  forward 
by  Mr.  Jesse  Collings  in  favor  of  what  is  known 
as  the  policy  of  three  acres  and  a  cow.  Their 
anticipations  w^ere  realized  ;  they  were  defeated, 
and  Mr.  Gladstone  was  called  upon  to  form  a 
ministry. 

In  the  debate  on  the  amendment  of  Mr.  Jesse 
Collings  little  had  been  said  about  Ireland,  but  it 
was  very  well  known  that  Ireland  was  the 
subject  which  was  really  under  discussion.  An 
extraordinary  impetus  had  been  given  to  the  hopes 
of  Irish  patriots  by  certain  events.  During  the  re- 
cess and  the  election  a  paragraph  appeared  in 
several  newspapers  to  the  effect  that  Mr.  Glad- 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE  357 

Stone  had  come  to  the  conckision  that  the  con- 
cession of  the  Irish  ParHament  should  be  agreed 
to,  and  that  he  was  already  engaged  in  working 
out  the  details  of  a  Home  Rule  scheme.  The 
report  was  denied  with  some  appearance  of  au- 
thority immediately  afterwards,  but  the  im- 
pression remained  on  the  public  mind  that  Mr. 
Gladstone  was  ready  to  deal  with  the  question 
of  Home  R.ule.  Upon  some  people  this  had  a 
most  bewildering  effect,  but  to  nobody  who  had 
closely  watched  Mr.  Gladstone's  career  was  this 
announcement  so  startling  after  all.  As  far  back 
as  1868  he  had  declared  that  Ireland  ought  to  be 
governed  more  by  Irish  ideas ;  and  Home  Rule 
is  really  but  the  logical  development  of  this 
statement.  Over  and  over  again,  too,  on  sub- 
sequent occasions,  he  had  declared  that  he  was 
prepared  for  an  extension  of  self-government  to 
Ireland.  On  this  point  he  has  been  assailed  with 
a  good  deal  of  coarse  and  unjustifiable  vituper- 
ation. But  Lord  Hartino-ton,  who,  though  he  has 
attacked  Mr.  Gladstone's  policy,  has  always 
acted  towards  him  with  scrupulous  fairness,  has 
acknowledged  that  Mr.  Gladstone's  mind  has 
evidently  been  going  towards  Home  Rule  for 
many  years,  and  that  his  present  policy  could  be 
fairly  inferred  from  previous  utterances  The 
Avords,  indeed,  of  a  manifesto  which  he  issued  to 
the  electors  immediately  before  the  general 
election  contain  an  e.xact  description  of  the  prln- 


358  GLADSTONE— PARNELL 

ciples  of  the  Home  Rule  Bill  which  he  sub- 
sequently introduced. 

During  the  election  he  had  called  upon  electors 
to  give  him  such  a  large  majority  as  would  enable 
him  to  be  independent  of  the  Parnell  party.  But 
really  there  is  no  contradiction  between  the  two 
attitudes.  Mr.  Gladstone  was  anxious  that  Ire- 
land should  get  Home  Rule ;  but  at  the  same 
time  he  did  not  want  Ireland  to  eet  such  a  meas- 
ure  of  Home  Rule  as  would  be  danoferous  to  the 
interests  or  the  unity  of  the  Empire. 

The  question  was  to  be  dealt  with  in  a  spirit 
of  fairness  to  Ireland,  certainly ;  but  as  an  En- 
glishman Mr.  Gladstone  cannot  be  blamed  for 
insisting  that  it  should  be  dealt  with  in  a  spirit  of 
fairness  to  Enorland  also,  and  he  thought  a  strong 
Liberal  government  was  better  calculated  to 
treat  the  subject  with  equal  fairness  to  England 
and  to  Ireland  than  a  weak  Tory  government. 
Mr.  Gladstone  may  have  had  in  his  mind  the 
thought  that  when  he  proposed  Home  Rule  it 
would  produce  a  considerable  amount  of  dissent 
In  the  Liberal  party,  and  would  certainly  be  op- 
posed by  a  considerable  number  of  the  members 
of  that  body.  The  larger  the  party  the  more  obvi- 
ously he  could  afford  to  shed  them,  and  yet  be 
able  to  carry  his  bill. 

It  is  objected  by  English  opponents  that  he 
proposed  Home  Rule  too  soon.  It  is  objected 
by  Irish  Nationalists  that  he  proposed  it  too  late. 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  359 

But  a  minister  is  not  a  missionary  nor  a  propa- 
gandist; it  is  his  duty  to  take  up  questions  as 
they  arise  and  to  deal  with  them  when  they  are 
ripe  for  settlement;  and  it  was  not  until  1885 
that  the  Home  Rule  question  was  in  any  degree 
ready  for  settlement.  The  Irish  people  were 
always,  in  their  hearts,  in  favor  of  Home  Rule ; 
but  Ministers  can  only  judge  of  a  people's  desires 
by  the  representatives  they  choose.  It  is  quite 
true  he  cannot,  to  use  a  phrase  once  popular  in 
America,  "go  behind  the  returns."  But  the  re- 
turns in  Ireland  had  certainly  not  given  anything 
like  a  trustworthy  account  of  the  feelings  of  the 
Irish  people. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  for  a  long  time 
Mr.  Gladstone  thought  that  Home  Rule  was  a 
passing  caprice — that  a  persistence  in  such  good 
measures  as  he  was  willing  to  give  would  destroy 
the  desire  to  be  governed  by  a  Parliament  in 
Dublin  instead  of  by  a  Parliament  in  Westminster. 

It  is  but  quite  recendy  indeed  that  any  English 
statesman  has  grasped  the  central  fact  of  Irish 
politics — that  the  desire  for  self-government  is  in- 
destructible and  must  therefore  finally  prevail. 
It  is  true  that  in  1874  Mr.  Butt  came  in  with  his 
60  Home  Rulers ;  but  these  Home  Rulers  were 
most  of  them  what  Mr  Gladstone  would  call  good 
Liberals,  regarding  Home  Rule  as  an  extreme  de- 
mand, by  the  leverage  of  which  more  moderate 
concessions  could  be  obtained. 


;)60  GLADSTONE— PARNELL 

In  1880  a  considerable  section  of  that  party 
sat  upon  the  same  benches  as  Mr.  Gladstone's 
own  followers,  and  were  as  docile  to  the  com- 
mands of  the  Whip  as  any  Liberal.  Gladstone 
at  the  same  time  might  point  to  the  fact  that  the 
Parnelhtes  were  but  a  small  section  of  the  Irish 
representation  ;  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  Par- 
liament of  1880  there  were  but  little  above  one- 
third  of  the  full  total  of  103  Irish  members,  and 
that  at  no  time  did  they  exceed  more  than  forty- 
five,  and  this  was  considerably  below  one-half  of 
the  full  number  of  Irish  representatives.  When, 
however,  they  claimed  altogether  eighty-five  out 
of  103,  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  when  they 
demanded  to  be  regarded  as  the  mouthpiece 
of  Irish  views,  they  made  the  claim  good,  and 
thus  justified  Mr.  Gladstone  in  regarding  the  de- 
mand as  coming  from  a  united  nation.  However, 
the  more  violent  opponents  he  had  made  were 
not  prepared  to  listen  to  any  defence  of  his  con- 
duct. There  came  upon  him  a  terrific  cyclone  of 
political  hatred.  All  the  London  journals,  with 
one  exception,  daily  poured  upon  him  a  stream 
of  poisonous  abuse.  He  was  denounced  as  a 
Judas  who  had  sold  his  country  to  the  dynamiter 
for  a  temporary  occupation  of  the  Premiership. 
He  found  in  his  own  party  some  of  his  most  bitter 
assailants.  Lord  Harting-ton  had  broken  loose 
from  him,  and  had  previously,  when  the  reports 
of  his  readiness  to  concede  Home  Rule  were  cir- 


THE   GREAT  IRISH    STRUGGLE.  SQl 

culated,  declared  diat  he  would  have  no  part 
whatever  in  granting  such  a  boon.  Mr.  Bright 
had  stood  alone  for  some  years,  having  differed 
with  the  Prime  Minister  on  the  Egyptian  war,  and 
was  hostile  to  Mr.  Gladstone's  new  departure. 
Mr.  Chamberlain  was  stdl  more  hostile.  At  one 
time  he  had  been  regarded  as  one  of  Ireland's 
most  vehement  supporters,  and  as  ready  to  go 
farther  than  Mr.  Gladstone  himself  on  the  path 
of  concession.  During  the  long  struggle  on  co- 
ercion within  the  Cabinet  in  the  days  of  Mr. 
Forster,  Mr.  Chamberlain  was  always  spoken 
of  as  one  of  those  who  had  resisted  those  pro- 
posals to  the  very  last.  It  came  as  a  startling 
revelation  to  the  world  that  Lord  Spencer,  after 
his  trying  personal  experiences  in  Ireland,  had 
joined  Mr.  Gladstone  in  the  opinion  that  Home 
Rule  was  the  only  setdement  of  the  Irish  difficulty. 
Mr.  John  Morley  had  been  known  as  an  out- 
spoken friend  of  Ireland  for  many  years,  and 
during  the  election  campaign  had  used  language 
which  clearly  proved  his  favorable  attitude  to- 
wards the  principles  of  Home  Rule.  Mr.  Goschen, 
another  prominent  Liberal,  on  the  other  hand, 
proved  to  be  a  rampant  enemy  to  the  Irish  cause. 
It  was  amid  these  difficulties  with  open  foes  and 
dissenting  friends  that  Mr.  Gladstone  assumed 
office  once  more,  in  January,  1886,  and  started  on 
the  greatest,  the  most  glorious  enterprise  of  his 
life. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE    GREAT    HOME    RULE    DEBATE. 

BEFORE  entering  on  a  description  of  the 
scenes  which  took  place  in  the  House  on 
the  Home  Rule  Bill  in  1886,  it  will  be  well  to 
give  a  rapid  sketch  of  the  principal  persons  en- 
gaged in  the  mighty  struggle,  and  first  of  all  let 
us  endeavor  to  give  a  portrait  of  Mr.  Gladstone. 
Mr.  Gladstone  is  marked,  physically  as  well  as 
mentally,  fpr  a  great  leader.  He  is  about  five 
feet  nine  inches  high,  but  looks  taller.  His  build 
is  muscular,  and  but  a  very  short  time  ago  he  v/as 
able  to  take  a  hand  at  felling  a  tree  with  young 
men.  There  was  a  time  when  he  was  or/e  of  the 
most  skilful  of  horsemen.  He  is  still  a  (jreat 
pedestrian,  and  there  scarcely  passes  a  day  that 
he  is  not  to  be  seen  walking.  He  walks  with  his 
head  thrown  back,  and  a  step  firm  and  rapid. 
His  countenance  is  singularly  beautiful.  He  has 
large,  dark  eyes,  that  flash  brilliantly  even  in  his 
age.  Deep  set  and  with  heavy  eyelids,  they 
sometimes  give  the  impression  of  the  eyes  of  a 
hooded  eagle.  He  has  a  large,  exquisitely-chis- 
elled nose.  The  mouth  also  is  finely  modelled. 
362 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE  363 

The  head  is  unusually  large.  It  was  In  early 
youth  covered  with  thick,  black  hair.  The  brow 
is  lofty  and  broad,  and  very  expressive.  The 
complexion  is  white  almost  as  wax,  and  gives  the 
face  a  look  of  wonderful  delicacy.  The  face  is 
the  most  expressive  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
It  reflects  every  emotion  as  clearly  and  rapidly  as 
a  summer  lake  its  summer  sky.  When  Mr. 
Gladstone  is  angry  his  brow  is  clouded  and  his 
eyes  shine.  When  he  is  amused  his  face  beams. 
When  he  is  contemplative  his  lips  curl  and  his 
head  is  tossed.  His  air  is  joyous  if  things  go 
well,  and  mournful  when  thinofs  g-o  ill ;  thouoh 
when  the  final  trial  comes  and  he  stands  con- 
vinced that  he  must  meet  absolute  and  resistless 
defeat,  he  looks  out  with  dignified  tranquillity. 

All  the  passions  of  the  human  soul  shine  forth 
by  his  look  and  gesture.  His  voice  is  pow^erful, 
and  at  the  same  time  can  be  soft,  can  rise  in 
menace  or  sink  in  entreaty.  Allusions  have  been 
made  to  the  vast  and  heterogfeneous  stores  of 
learnings  which  are  in  this  single  man's  brain.  He 
has  extraordinary  subtlety  of  mind,  so  that  he 
is  able  to  present  a  case  in  a  thousand  different 
lights.  And  it  is  tliis  faculty  that  has  sometimes 
given  him  the  unpleasant  and  undeserved  repu- 
tation of  sophistry  and  of  duplicity.  He  speaks 
as  a  rule  with  considerable  vehemence  and  ges- 
ticulates freely.  To  speak  of  him  as  the  first 
orator  of  the  House  of  Commons  is  to  give  a 


364  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

very  inadequate  statement  of  his  position.  Over 
and  over  again  in  the  course  of  his  career  he  has 
turned  a  battle,  when  he  was  seemingly  just 
beaten,  into  a  victory ;  and  nobody  is  ever  able  to 
say  how  things  will  go  until  Mr.  Gladstone  has 
first  spoken.  Lord  Beaconsfield  up  to  the  time 
of  his  death  presented  to  the  people  a  contrast 
and  a  counter  attraction.  The  late  Tory  leader 
was  a  poor  charlatan  at  bottom,  but  he  was  a  bril- 
liant and  a  strong-willed  man  that  had  passed 
through  a  romantic  and  picturesque  career. 
With  the  death  of  Lord  Beaconsfield  passed 
away  the  last  man  who  could  venture  to  be 
brought  into  rivalry  with  Mr.  Gla.dstonc,  and  so 
he  stands  alone  as  the  last  survival  of  a  race  of 
giants.  His  effect  thus  upon  people  outside  of 
Parliament  is  almost  as  great  as  upon  those  who 
are  inside  its  walls.  There  seems  to  be  some- 
thing so  lofty  and  pure  in  his  purpose  that  men 
follow  him  with  somethingf  of  fanaticism.  The 
restlessness  of  his  energy  produces  equally 
earnest  work  for  his  followers,  and  his  own  exhaust- 
less  funds  of  enthusiasm  and  sunny  optimism 
make  other  men  passionate  strugglers  for  the 
right.  The  hand  of  Gladstone  has  changed  the 
map  of  Europe,  and  first  really  gave  birth  to  the 
Christian  nationalities  in  the  East  which  are  now 
emerging  into  freedom  and  light  after  ages  of 
dark  thraldom  under  the  Mussulman,  In  addition 
to  these  things  he  is  credited  with  immense  parli- 
amentary skill. 


THE   GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  3^5 

He  began  his  advocacy  of  Home  Rule  with  an 
extraordinary  prestige.  The  difficulties  were  felt 
to  be  gigantic,  dangerous  pitfalls  to  be  everywhere 
around ;  but  men  had  faith  in  the  star  of  Glad- 
stone, and  he  had  faith  in  it  himself  also.  His 
nerve  never  fails.  Physically  he  is  one  of  the 
very  bravest  of  men,  and  he  has  never  been 
known  to  show,  under  any  circumstances,  the 
least  sign  of  physical  fear.  Whatever  might  take 
place  in  the  coming  contest,  one  thing  was  certain  : 
Mr.  Gladstone  having  once  put  his  hand  to  the 
plow  would  not  turn  back  until  he  had  guided  it 
to  its  ultimate  destimation. 

Mr.  John  Morley  was  the  most  remarkable 
man  of  the  Ministry,  next  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  and 
was  regarded  as  a  most  important  champion  of 
Home  Rule.  Mr.  Morley  affords  one  of  the  first 
instances  in  recent  years  of  great  political 
triumphs  won  by  a  literary  man.  He  was  in 
Parliament  a  little  over  three  years  when  he  was 
selected  for  a  Cabinet  office,  a  rapidity  of  promo- 
tion ahnost  unparalleled.  He  had,  however, 
already  given  strong  proofs  of  his  fitness  for 
high  political  office.  For  years  he  had  occupied 
a  foremost  place  among  English  writers  on  po- 
litical and  philosophical  questions.  The  son  of  a 
hard  worked  professional  man,  he  started  out 
with  few  advantages,  was  poor,  and  has  remained 
poor.  He  was  educated  at  Oxford,  and  afterwards 
spent  some  time  on  the  continent.     His  first  ap- 


366  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

pointment  of  importance  was  as  editor  of  the 
Morning  Star — a  journal  of  a  robust  radicalism 
that  taught  justice  to  Ireland  at  a  time  when 
these  doctrines  were  not  fashionable ;  and  he  was 
successor  in  this  position  to  Mr.  Justin  McCarthy. 
After  1867  Mr.  Morley  was  appointed  editor  of 
the  Fortnightly  Review,  a  periodical  which  is 
known  all  over  the  world  for  its  extremely  high 
value  as  a  collection  of  writings  from  the  eminent 
men  on  all  the  profound  problems  of  the  present 
day.  Mr.  Morley  produced  book  after  book, 
dealing  with  the  prominent  figures  of  the  French 
Revolution,  a  period  that  he  had  profoundly 
studied.  Of  those  best  known  are  the  biog- 
raphies of  Voltaire  and  Rousseau.  There  are 
scarcely  any  two  biographies  in  the  English 
language  more  delightful  to  read.  The  style  is 
clear,  but  full  of  fervor  and  of  glow.  The  biog- 
raphy of  Rousseau,  especially,  is  more  like  a 
brilliant  romance  tlian  a  description  of  a  man 
who  really  lived  and  moved  upon  the  earth. 
Anybody  can,  even  in  his  busiest  or  darkest 
hours,  sit  down  and  devour  page  after  page  of 
the  splendid  narrative.  The  Fortnightly  Revieiu 
contained  occasional  essays  on  economical  and 
other  subjects  from  Mr.  Morley's  pen.  He  was 
one  of  Mr.  John  Stuart  Mill's  earliest  disciples, 
and  did  much  to  propagate  Mill's  philosophy.  In 
1880  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  changed  both  pro- 
pri'etors  and  policy.     From    the  mouth-piece  of 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  367 

Jingo  Toryism  it  became  an  organ  of  staunch 
radicalism,  and  Mr.  Morley  was  its  first  editor  in 
this  new  character.  As  long  as  he  held  the  po- 
sition the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  was  the  best  journal 
in  London.  Mr.  Morley  had  been  among  the  first 
among  Englishmen  to  pierce  the  heart  of  the 
Irish  mystery.  Years  and  years  ago  he  had 
made  up  his  mind  that  the  only  possible  solution 
lay  in  the  direction  of  some  acceptance  of  the  de- 
mand for  self-government.  He  had  not  expressed 
this  opinion  obtrusively,  for  he  is  a  man  of 
cautious  temperament;  but  he  had  sown  the 
seed  judiciously,  and  led  his  readers  gradually 
to  the  conclusion  that  Home  Rule  was  just  and 
inevitable.  Then  he  entered  the  House  of  Com- 
mons for  Newcastle-on-Tyne — a  constituency  con- 
sisting mostly  of  toilers  in  great  iron-works  or 
in  mines.  His  radicalism  exactly  suited  such  a 
constituency. 

He  was  not  long  in  Parliament  before  he  took 
up  a  prominent  position.  He  was  opposed  to  the 
Egyptian  expedition,  and  to  the  whole  Egyptian 
policy  of  the  late  government.  He  is  a  man  of 
transparent  honesty  of  purpose,  and  of  a  political 
courage  ready  to  face  any  emergency,  and  to 
attack  even  his  own  friends  in  order  to  see  right 
triumphant.  The  definiteness  of  his  opinions  on 
the  Irish  question  naturally  suggested  him  as  the 
best  man  to  carry  out  the  policy  which  Mr.  Glad- 
stone had  now  set  his  mind   upon.     It  was  no 


368  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

surprise,  therefore,  to  the  world  that  when  the 
Ministry  was  made  up  he  was  chosen  for  the 
important  post  of  Chief  Secretary.  In  Padiament 
Mr.  Morley  has  not  yet  reached  the  full  height  of 
his  abilities.  He  has  all  the  qualities  that  make 
a  great  debater.  His  language  flows  from  him 
smoothly  and  with  perfect  clearness.  Nobody 
can  ever  have  the  least  doubt  as  to  what  he 
means.  His  diction,  too,  while  it  scorns  all  mere- 
tricious ornament  and  seeks  out  simple  and 
familiar  phraseology,  shows  all  the  elevation  of  a 
great  master  of  style  and  a  fine  scholar. 

The  defects  of  Mr.  Morley  are  those  which 
arise  from  want  of  training  and  experience.  He 
entered  Parliament  at  a  comparatively  late  period 
of  his  life.  This  gives  to  his  style  a  certain  want  of 
that  suppleness  required  in  an  assembly  where  men 
have  to  learn  all  the  arts  of  ready  fence.  Some- 
times he  suffers  from  over-careful  elaboration  of 
his  speeches,  and  this  is  considered  a  grave  defect 
in  the  House  of  Commons  That  assembly  is  not 
particularly  patient  of  scholars  or  of  philosophers, 
and  loathes  professors ;  and  in  any  assembly  men 
are  most  effective  when  they  speak  with  the 
greatest  spontaneity. 

Parliament  is  like  journalism  ;  it  wants,  above 
all  other  things,  actuality — the  incident,  the  opin- 
ion of  the  hour.  The  future  of  Mr.  Morley  in 
English  politics  can  be  a  great  future  if  only  he 
himself  will  so  elect.     His  honesty  is  implicidy 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE  369 

believed  in  ;  no  one  denies  the  brilliancy  of  his  in- 
tellect or  the  soundness  of  his  judgment.  In  man- 
ner he  is  modest,  never  capable  of  being  provoked 
into  the  insolence  of  success  or  the  dictatorship 
of  position.  The  one  great  obstacle,  perhaps,  to 
Mr.  Morley's  reaching  the  highest  of  all  positions 
is  himself.  He  is,  like  many  other  literary  men, 
characterized  by  grave  and  wholly  unjust  self-dis- 
trust, and  there  is  a  dash  of  pessimism  in  his  tem- 
perament, as  there  is  a  good  deal  of  pessimism  in 
his  creed.  He  has  none  of  the  keen  appetite  for 
power,  the  proud  enjoyment  of  small  triumphs,  the 
joy  of  a  masterful  temperament  in  moving  men 
as  pawns  on  the  board. 

Mr.  Morley  is  about  the  middle  height,  and  very 
spare.  His  face  is  long,  with  clearly  marked  fea- 
tures, lined  here  and  there,  but  on  the  whole  re- 
markably young-looking.  His  eyes  are  of  a  gray- 
ish-blue, and  are  calm  and  thoughtful.  Mr.  Mor- 
ley has  not  a  trace  of  asceticism  in  his  character, 
but  his  looks  are  those  of  a  man  who  cares  litde 
for  the  table,  but  a  good  deal  for  spiritual  possi- 
bilities. 

The  mention  of  Mr.  Morley's  name  suggests 
that  of  Mr.  Chamberlain.  By  many  events  of  the 
last  years  these  two  men  have  been  placed  in 
contrast,  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  in  rivalry.  One 
of  the  many  motives  assigned  for  the  strange 
vagaries  of  Mr.  Chamberlain  is  his  jealousy  of 
Mr.  Morley  as  a  future  rival.     The  feelings  be- 


370  GLADSTONE— PARNELL 

tween  the  two  men  are  more  bitter  perhaps  than 
those  between  any  other  two  men  of  the  same 
party.  Mr.  Morley  and  Mr.  Chamberlain  were 
for  years  close  personal  friends,  Mr.  Chamber- 
lain was  the  person  who  gained  most  by  the  alli- 
ance. In  1874  he  was  still  in  Birmingham  ob- 
scurity— a  man  successful  in  business,  it  was  true  ; 
an  alderman,  afterwards  the  mayor  of  the  town. 
But  provincial  reputations  travel  slowly  to  Lon- 
don, and  when  they  reach  there  are  despised.  In 
1874  Chamberlain  stood  for  Sheffield  as  an 
avowed  Home  Ruler,  and  professed  sentiments 
much  in  advance  of  general  opinion  at  the  time 
upon  the  question  of  Ireland,  He  was  not  suc- 
cessful. He  wrote  an  article  in  the  Fortnightly 
Review,  which  was  a  wild  attack  upon  the  mani- 
festo with  which  Mr.  Gladstone  had  eone  to  the 
constituencies.  Mr,  Chamberlain  probably  thought 
the  best  way  to  elevate  himself  was  to  attack 
those  more  prominent  than  he.  The  article  sug- 
gested the  subject  of  a  leader  to  the  Daily  News, 
in  which  Mr,  Chamberlain  was  treated  by  no 
means  tenderly,  and  in  which  his  opinions  were 
ridiculed  as  the  outpourings  of  a  pretentious 
upstart.     But  Mr.  Morley  stood  by  his  friend. 

In  time  Mr.  Chamberlain  was  elected  to  Parlia- 
ment, and  started  by  proposing  a  ridiculous  scheme 
of  licensino'.  Then  he  brouorht  himself  into 
prominence  by  attacks  upon  the  Tory  Govern- 
ment of  the  day,  and  by  something  like  an  open 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  371 

quarrel  with  the  Marquis  of  Hartington,  then  the 
leader  of  the  Liberal  party.  This  was  the  period 
when  Mr.  Parnell  was  making  his  crusade  against 
flogging  in  the  army  and  navy.  Mr.  Chamberlain 
at  the  time  was  one  of  Mr.  Parnell's  warmest  ad- 
mirers, and  he  was  one  of  the  few  Englishmen 
who  regarded  the  policy  of  obstruction  as  justified 
by  the  circumstances  of  Ireland.  In  the  agita- 
tion against  "  the  cat "  he  saw  a  good  elec- 
tioneering cry,  and  he  went  in  for  it  zealously 
and  vehemently.  Meantime  he  put  himself  at 
the  head  of  a  great  election  machine — a  con- 
trivance hitherto  unknown  in  English  politics. 
Up  to  this  time  candidates  had  been  allowed  to 
come  before  constituencies  without  consulting 
anybody — or,  at  any  rate,  after  consultation  with 
a  few  leading  men.  The  system  had  its  faults,  but 
it  also  had  its  virtues,  for  it  safeguarded  the  ab- 
solute freedom  of  the  electors  and  of  candidates. 
Mr.  Chamberlain  and  his  friends  determined  to 
establish  a  system  of  associations  throughout  the 
country  which  had  the  choice  of  candidates  after 
the  manner  of  an  American  convention.  These 
associations  were  then  federated  together,  and 
their  head-quarters  were  placed  at  Birmingham. 
Mr.  Chamberlain  was  the  main  spring  and  the 
controlling  force,  and  in  this  way  he  raised  him- 
self to  the  position  of  a  great  political  power. 
Contrary  to  the  expectations  of  everybody  he 
was   raised  to  the  presidency  of  the   Board  of 

22 


079  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Trade  when  Mr,  Gladstone  came  to  make  his 
Ministry.  He  did  nothing  in  office  to  justify  his 
elevation,  for  he  is  almost  entirely  devoid  of  con- 
servative statesmanship.  He  brought  in  a  Bank- 
ruptcy Bill  and  passed  it,  but  this  was  his  solitary 
achievement. 

Up  to  the  breach  with  Mr.  Gladstone  a  few 
months  ago  he  steadily  advanced  in  popular  fa- 
vor. He  has  all  the  instincts  and  all  the  abilities 
of  the  demagogue.  He  appeals  to  the  greed,  to 
the  needs,  to  the  passions  of  the  masses.  His 
gospel  to  them  is  a  gospel  of  loaves  and  fishes. 
During  the  struggle  between  the  House  of  Lords 
and  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  question  of 
the  franchise,  he  openly  incited  to  violence,  with 
the  result  that  a  meetinof  where  Sir  Stafford 
Northcote  and  Lord  Randolph  Churchill  were  to 
attend  was  broken  up  by  gangs  of  roughs.  To 
aofricultural  laborers  he  has  offered  the  bribe 
known  as  "three  acres  and  a  cow,"  and  to  the 
artisans  of  the  towns  he  has  spoken  in  vague 
language  of  their  right  to  a  larger  amount  of 
money  without  taking  any  trouble  to  point  out 
the  means  by  which  their  condition  was  to  be 
bettered.  He  has  assailed  the  landlords  as  men 
"  who  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin  ;  "  but  he  has 
been  very  merciful  towards  capitalists,  having 
himself  acquired  a  fortune  of  nearly  ten  millions 
by  manufacture.  Apart  from  his  well-known 
methods  of  gaining  popular  applause,  he  has  a 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  373 

fine  platform  style.  His  manner  is  hard,  and  his 
language  is  not  particularly  elevated,  and  has  a 
crispness  that  is  very  like  pertness.  But  his 
speeches  are  clear,  and  sometimes  exciting  and 
full  of  the  suppressed  passion.  In  the  House  of 
Commons,  too,  he  is  a  ready  and  a  powerful  de- 
bater. The  very  defects  of  his  mind  and  of  his 
character  often  lend  force  to  his  utterances.  He 
is  narrow,  and  shallow,  and  bitter;  and  then  he  is 
able  to  entertain  his  audience  with  those  merci- 
less personal  hits,  those  shallow  appeals  which 
are  nearly  ahvays  more  successful  with  a  popular 
assembly  than  statesmanlike  observations.  Then 
the  fierceness  of  his  temper  gives  you  an  idea  of 
a  man  whom  it  is  dangerous  to  cross,  and  this 
produces  a  strong  impression  upon  an  audience 
which  respects  power  above  everything  else.  His 
temper  also  gives  force  to  his  utterances,  because 
his  selfishness  makes  him  feel  his  own  view  of  a 
case  so  deeply  as  to  enable  him  to  give  it  that 
vehement  utterance  by  which  men  are  moved.  It 
would  be  hard  to  say,  even  in  this  apparently 
dark  hour  of  his  fortunes,  that  he  has  not  a  great 
future  before  him  ;  but  the  greatness  of  his  posi- 
tion will  be  the  danger  of  his  country.  He  is  a 
combination  of  the  worst  qualities  that  were  ever 
possessed  by  a  Minister.  He  has  a  violent  tem- 
per, a  masterful  will,  a  shallow  judgment,  a 
changeful  purpose.  Believing  himself  always 
right,  and  yet  constantly  changing  his  opinions, 


374  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

he  forces  men  to  adopt  his  particular  views  or 
openly  quarrels  with  them.  His  appearance  in- 
dicates to  a  large  extent  his  character.  He  is  a 
man  of  a  very  powerful  frame,  and  is  able  to  take 
liberties  with  it  that  show  immense  physical 
vigor.  He  eats  and  drinks  generously,  though 
not  too  much.  He  smokes  all  day  long,  and 
never  takes  any  exercise.  After  a  heavy  dinner 
he  is  able  to  go  down  to  the  House  of  Commons 
and  sit  in  the  sweltering  atmosphere  for  hours 
without  any  visible  harm.  He  has  a  long,  thin 
face,  with  a  large  nose  slightly  turned  up.  This 
gives  a  perky  air  to  the  countenance,  and  the 
perkiness  is  largely  increased  by  that  single  eye- 
glass which  has  made  the  stony  British  stare  an 
object  of  dislike  to  all  mankind. 

Mr.  GoscHEN  plays  an  important  part  in  the 
events  that  follow  and  deserves  separate  notice. 
He  is  German,  and  we  believe  Hebrew  by  de- 
scent. He  certainly  has  an  extremely  Hebrew  cast 
of  countenance — Hebrew  of  the  low  and  mean  and 
not  of  the  lofty  and  handsome  type.  The  first 
impression  of  his  face  is  certainly  very  sinister, 
and  suggests  a  pettifogging  provincial  attorney 
rather  than  a  statesman.  His  features  are  some- 
\vhat  vulpine.  The  eyes  are  small  and  appear 
smaller  from  the  nearsightedness  that  keeps  them 
nearly  always  half  closed.  The  hair  is  gray,  the 
side  whiskers  are  gray,  and  the  complexion  is  a 
curious  gray  also — not  pallid,   not   yellow,   and 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  375 

not  ruddy,  but  simply  a  dull  white-lead  gray.  He 
usually  sits  in  a  crouching  position  with  the  side 
of  his  face  turned  to  the  House,  the  whole  air 
of  the  man  suggesting  pettiness  and  meanness. 

The  Marquis  of  Hartington  is  a  typical  Eng- 
lishman, more  like  the  Briton  of  the  drama  and  of 
the  farce  than  almost  any  other  living  man.  His 
whole  air  is  one  of  phlegm.  He  sits  for  hours 
in  the  House  without  ever  changing  a  look.  He 
rarely  smiles,  he  never  laughs,  and  has  not  often 
during  thirty  years  of  Parliamentary  life  been 
betrayed  into  losing  his  temper.  His  mien  is 
haughty  and  reserved.  He  is  slovenly  in  dress, 
awkward  in  air,  slouching  in  gait.  He  enters  the 
House  of  Commons  with  the  curious  knock- 
kneed  walk  that  distinguishes  horsey  Englishmen 
and  with  his  hands  sunk  to  the  lowest  depths  of 
his  pockets.  His  face  is  handsome  and  rather 
distinguished  looking — though  a  friendly  critic 
describes  his  profile  as  singularly  like  that  of  a 
horse.  His  under-lip  is  heavy  and  protuberant, 
and  the  face  is  rather  too  long.  He  wears  a 
moustache  and  beard,  and  has  a  full  head  of  hair, 
in  which,  though  he  is  upwards  of  fifty,  and 
though  he  is  said  to  have  lived  in  the  full  sense 
of  the  word,  there  is  scarcely  a  gray  thread  visible. 

Lord  Hartington  was  a  very  considerable 
period  in  Parliament  before  anybody  thought 
there  was  much  in  him  beyond  what  is  called 
"horse-sense,"  self-control  and  a  certain  dignity. 


376  GLADSTONE— PARNELL 

When  in  1875  Mr.  Gladstone  retired  from  the 
leadership  of  the  Liberal  party  there  was  a  wail 
of  despair  among  his  followers  when  the  suc- 
cession was  handed  over  to  Lord  Hartington, 
and  everybody  was  of  opinion  that  the  only 
thinof  to  be  said  in  his  favor  was  that  he  was  the 
son  of  a  duke.  For  some  time  after  his  accession 
to  his  new  position,  Lord  Hartington  realized  the 
worst  anticipations,  and  the  contrast  between  his 
lumbering  and  ungainly  style  and  the  bright  and 
epigrammatic  agility  of  Mr,  Disraeli  opposite  was 
painful  and  humiliating  to  the  Liberal  party.  His 
delivery  is  certainly  most  trying.  He  speaks  in 
a  curious  falsetto  voice,  and  beo-innino;-  his  sen- 
tences  at  a  top  note  he  gradually  descends  to  a 
deep  basso,  until  in  the  end  it  is  nothing  but  in- 
audible gutturals.  This  rise  and  fall  goes  on 
with  a  damnable  iteration  that  makes  life  a  wear- 
iness. There  is  a  story  told  that  somebody  came 
up  to  Lord  Hartington  once  and  asked  him 
whether  it  was  true  that  he  had  yawned  in  the 
middle  of  his  own  speech.  "Well,  I  suppose  I  did," 
answered  Lord  Hartington.  "Wasn't  it  damned 
dull?"  As  time  went  on,  however,  he  im- 
proved immensely,  and  when  the  days  of  his 
leadership  were  over  he  certainly  had  made  a 
fine  record.  When  people  manage  to  get  over 
the  trying  part  of  his  delivery,  it  is  discovered 
that  he  expresses  himself  very  clearly  and  some- 
times WM'di  great  force.     For  a  good,  hard-hitting 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  377 

speech  he  is  the  equal  of  almost  any  man  in 
the  House  of  Commons.  According  to  some 
critics  he  is  a  lazy  man,  who  does  not  care  about 
anything,  and  regards  politics,  like  most  things 
in  life,  as  a  hideous  and  disgusting  bore.  Ac- 
cording to  others,  this  apparent  indifference  is  but 
a  mask  for  a  really  keen  and  eager  interest,  for  a 
strong  feeling  upon  most  debatable'  questions, 
and  for  an  ambition  slowly  burning  but  still  per- 
sistent. On  the  Irish  quesdon,  unfortunately, 
he  was  not  without  personal  prepossessions. 
He  is  said  to  have  been  very  strongly  attached 
to  his  brother.  Lord  Frederick  Cavendish,  the  in- 
nocent and  hapless  victim  of  the  Phoenix  Park 
assassinadon.  Beside  this,  he  is  deeply  interested 
in  Ireland  owing  to  the  possession  of  property 
there.  The  manner  in  which  this  property  came 
into  the  hands  of  his  family  is  one  of  the  many 
disgraceful  chapters  in  the  history  of  Ireland. 

Sir  George  Otto  Trevelyan  is  a  man  generally 
popular  among  Liberals  for  courtesy  and  agree- 
ableness  of  manner,  and  grace,  elegance  and  ami- 
ability of  speech.  By  Irishmen  he  is  not  so  well 
liked,  as  he  is  supposed  to  hide  a  good  deal  of 
personal  venom  underneath  his  agreeable  ex- 
terior. He  is  the  nephew  of  Lord  Macaulay,  and 
the  heir  of  a  eood  deal  of  his  talents.  He  has 
the  gifts  and  the  deficiencies  of  a  literary  man. 
His  speeches  are  clear  and  agreeable,  but  at  the 
same    time   smell   too    much    of  the   lamp.     He 


378  GLADSTONE— PARNELL 

writes  beautifully,  and  some  of  his  works  are 
among  the  gems  of  English  literature.  He  is 
not  a  man  of  much  force.  His  nerves  broke 
down  under  the  strain  of  the  Chief  Secretaryship 
of  Ireland ;  his  face  grew  haggard  and  his  beard 
whitened  in  a  few  months.  This  sad  experience 
seems  to  have  soured  his  nature,  and  he  has  ever 
since  been  among  the  most  vindictive  enemies 
of  Irish  rights. 

The  Marquis  of  Salisbury  is  undoubtedly  en- 
titled by  commanding  talents  to  the  position  of 
Prime  Minister.  He  is,  next  to  Mr.  Gladstone, 
the  most  interesting  figure  in  the  political  life  of 
England.  In  intellectual  endowments,  in  culture, 
in  loftiness  of  speech  and  of  aim,  he  stands  far  be- 
yond most  if  not  all  other  competitors  for  public 
favor.  And  yet  it  may  be  doubted  if  in  any  but  a 
country  governed  by  speakers  he  would  be  se- 
lected for  the  position  of  First  Minister.  He  has 
the  besetting  vice  o(  parliamentarians:  he  is  the 
slave,  not  the  master,  of  words  ;  and  words  do  not 
always  carry  to  his  mind  definite  images  of  facts, 
and  forces,  and  things.  In  this  respect  the  Mar- 
quis of  Salisbury  is  more  like  Mr.  Gladstone  than 
any  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  own  associates.  But  the 
Marquis  of  Salisbury  has  a  craze  for  antithesis, 
and  a  genius  for  epigram ;  while  the  man  has  yet 
to  be  born  who  remembers  one  epigram  out  of 
Mr.  Gladstone's  oratorv.  In  dealinor  with  foreign 
nations  Mr.  Gladstone  may  say  and  has  said  some 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  379 

terribly  imprudent  and  injurious  things  about 
powers  who  have  had  the  choice  afterwards  of 
doinor  Enorland  and  Mr.  Gladstone  a  sfood  turn  or 
an  ill  turn;  but  Mr.  Gladstone's  amplitude  of 
language  and  excess  of  qualifications  have  pre- 
vented his  denunciations  from  being  readily  and 
portably  remembered.  The  Marquis  of  Salis- 
bury, on  the  other  hand,  has  the  unhappy  knack 
of  putting  his  attacks  into  a  compact  form  that 
makes  them  more  difficult  to  forget  than  to  re- 
member. The  difference  in  the  effect  of  the  im- 
prudent utterances  of  the  two  men  is  the  difference 
between  getting  a  sousing  from  a  tub  and  being 
stabbed  by  a  poisoned  stiletto. 

When  the  career  of  the  Marquis  of  Salisbury 
comes  to  be  considered,  it  will  be  found  that  many 
of  his  mistakes  as  a  politician  are  due  to  his  train- 
ing as  a  journalist.  The  training  of  the  journalist 
is  in  many  respects  the  best ;  in  some,  it  is  the 
worst  for  the  man  who  takes  afterwards  an  active 
part  in  politics.  The  writer  at  his  desk  Is  essen- 
tially removed  from  contact  with  his  fellow-men  ; 
and  thus  it  Is  that  the  timid  man  becomes  brave 
with  his  pen,  the  gentle  sanguinary,  the  wavering 
decided.  The  journalist,  accustom.ed  to  write  in 
the  privacy  of  his  own  closet,  gets  a  habit  of 
thought  independent  of  the  feelings  of  other 
people  ;  and  It  is  the  power  of  considering,  and 
regarding,  and  working  through  the  feelings,  and 
sensibilities,  and  passions  of  other  men  that  make 


330  GLADSTONE— PARNELL 

up  a  great  part  of  the  equipment  of  the  practical 
poHtician 

It  is  still  more  unfortunate  for  the  Marquis  of 
Salisbury  that  the  journal  on  which  he  received 
his  early  training  should  have  been  the  Sahii^day 
Review.  A  man  could  not  be  one  of  the  leadingf 
writers  for  such  a  journal  for  many  years  w^ithout 
taking  away  some  distinct  traces  of  its  style. 

Anotlier  grave  obstacle  to  the  success  of  the 
Marquis  as  a  leader  of  the  new  and  omnipotent 
democracy  is  that,  in  all  probability,  he  has  not 
yet  attorned  in  his  heart  to  the  democracy.  He 
belonged  for  years  to  the  clique  of  brilliant  men 
who  made  war  on  the  multitude,  the  hatUeitr  of 
the  scholar  and  of  the  writer  rather  than  of  the 
aristocrat  v\/as  at  the  bottom  ol  his  political  faith. 
His  hostility  to  the  Household  Suffrage  is  well 
remembered.  In  the  course  of  debates  he  made 
comparisons  between  the  term  of  residence  re- 
quired for  artisans  and  the  term  of  imprisonment 
compulsorily  gone  through  by  a  person  convicted 
of  crime.  His  refusal  for  years  to  be  reconciled 
to  Mr.  Disraeli  was  due,  it  may  well  be  supposed, 
not  to  personal  dislike  alone,  but  because  the 
Conservative  leader  had  lowered  the  political  life 
of  England  by  admitting  the  greater  part  of  its 
citizens  to  a  share  in  their  own  government. 

Lord  Randolph  Churchill  has  made  advances 
more  rapidly  than  almost  any  politician  of  his 
time.     There  was  probably  not  one  member  of 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGJI  E  381 

the  Parliament  of  Lord  Beaconsfield  who  had  the 
least  conception  that  the  meniber  for  Woodstock 
would  ever  have  amounted  to  anything  like  an 
important  figure  in  the  House  of  Commons.  In 
that  Parliament  of  nearly  six  years  he  spoke  three 
or  four  times,  and  the  speeches  were  not  promis- 
inor  of  a  future.  On  one  occasion  he  made  a 
speech  in  defence  of  a  hopelessly  rotten  corpora- 
tion ;  on  another  he  attacked  Mr.  Sclater-Booth 
with  a  freedom  that  shocked  sober  men  ;  and  his 
third  notable  performance  at  this  period  was  a 
speech  made  in  Dublin,  which,  in  the  echoes  that 
reached  London,  seemed  to  extenuate  the  ob- 
struction of  Mr.  Parnell  and  Mr,  Biggar  at  the 
moment  when  their  heads  were  demanded  by  the 
universal  voice  of  England.  His  political  appear- 
ances, in  short,  were  regarded  as  part  of  an  eccen- 
tric and  reckless  nature,  that  found  everything 
else  in  life  more  interesting  than  its  serious  affairs. 
At  this  period  this  was  perhaps  a  not  wholly  un- 
just estimate.  His  ignorance  certainly  at  the 
tim.e  was  appalling. 

The  fall  of  the  Beaconsfield  Ministry  was  his 
rise.  Those  who  can  look  back  at  the  aspect  of 
the  two  parties  can  alone  form  a  fair  estimate  of 
the  work  Lord  Randolph  Churchill  and  his  asso- 
ciates have  done  for  the  Conservative  party.  No- 
body— who,  new  to  Parliamentary  life,  had  his 
powers  of  observation  fresh  and  keen — can  forget 
the  mournful  contrast    between    the  appearance 


382  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

and  the  demeanor  of  the  victors  and  the  van- 
quished after  the  great  electoral  struggle  of  1880. 
The  Liberals  overflowed  on  their  benches ;  all  the 
names  that  had  been  familiar  for  years  as  the 
leaders  of  the  forlorn  hopes  of  Radicalism  had 
found  places  In  the  new  Parliament.  The  great 
leader  of  the  party  stood  one  day  at  the  bar,  his 
mobile  face  wreathed  in  smiles,  and  with  the  flush 
of  achieved  victory,  and  greater  victories  to  come; 
and  the  whole  party  rioted  in  the  sense  of  its 
omnipotence.  On  the  other  side  there  were 
benches  painfully  attenuated,  and  the  universal 
look  was  one  of  despair.  The  leaders  of  the  party 
were  in  worse  case  than  the  rank  and  file.  The 
overwhelming  defeat  at  the  polls  had  come  upon 
them  with  surprise ;  to  bewilderment  succeeded 
disgust ;  and  it  was  Impossible  to  get  them  to 
turn  their  faces  from  the  wall  and  take  up  their 
broken  weapons.  One  man  suddenly  took  a 
fancy  to  rural  pursuits ;  the  exigencies  of  his 
private  affairs  engrossed  the  mind  of  another  ; 
they  nearly  all  kept  studiously  away  from  the  new 
Parliament,  and  shunned  the  gaze  of  their  triumph- 
ant enemies.  It  was  In  this  dark  hour  that  Lord 
Randolph  Churchill  and  his  associates  In  the 
Fourth  party  took  up  the  work  of  arresting  the 
triumphant  chariot  of  their  adversaries.  It  looked 
hopeless.  The  disposition  of  even  their  own 
side  was,  for  a  while  at  least,  to  let  things  take 
their  course;  and  as  the  country  had  determined 


THE   GREAT   iraSH   STRUGGLE  383 

that  it  was  best  for  it  to  enter  on  the  path  that 
leads  to  Hades,  to  let  the  country  have  its  way. 

The  entrance  of  Mr.  Bradlaugh  to  Parliament 
would,  in  all  probability,  have  been  allowed  to 
pass  unchallenged  had  it  not  been  for  the  vigilance 
of  Lord  Randolph ;  through  his  efforts  it  was  that 
the  member  for  Northampton  was  refused  ad- 
mission ;  that  the  subject  was  gradually  trans- 
formed from  the  contest  between  the  convictions 
of  a  single  member  to  a  great  ministerial  ques- 
tion. Then  the  bills  of  the  Ministry  were  op- 
posed clause  by  clause,  even  line  by  line ;  and  it 
soon  came  to  be  seen,  that  by  the  dexterous  use 
of  the  forms  of  the  House — by  constant  attend- 
ance, by  steady,  hard  work,  three  or  four  men 
could  act  as  a  drag  on  a  party  with  a  hundred 
majority.  I  am  not  expressing  approval  of  the 
tactics  of  the  Fourth  party.  In  carrying  on  this 
work  Lord  Randolph  ran  great  risks.  He  was 
exposed  to  the  charge  of  obstruction ;  was  howled 
at  by  the  ministerial  rank  and  file ;  denounced  by 
ministerial  orators  ;  laughed  at  and  menaced,  and 
even  included  in  the  same  category  with  the  fol- 
lowers of  Mr.  Parnell.  But  he  took  no  notice  of 
these  attacks,  went  on  his  way  steadily ;  with  the 
result  that  there  came  to  be  confidence  where 
there  had  been  despair ;  activity  where  there  had 
been  apathy;  brisk  and  constant  attendance  on 
benches  that  had  yawned  in  horrid  emptiness. 
Nobody  took  him  seriously  at  this  period,  not 
even  his  own  side. 


384  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

It  may  be  doubted  if  he  had  at  this  time  even 
in  the  ranks  of  the  Liberal  party  enemies  more 
scornful  than  in  his  own  party.  The  whole  forces 
of  the  front  opposition  bench  were  arrayed  against 
him.  The  squires  thought  him  grossly  insub- 
ordinate, and  it  looked  as  if  he  were  oroino-  to 
be  cast  out  of  the  ranks.  He  has  changed 
all  this.  His  rise  in  popular  favor  and  in  par- 
liamentary influence  has  been  seen  growing  before 
the  universal  eye,  until  now  he  is  perhaps  the 
most  popular  man  of  his  party  out  of  doors,  and 
in  its  parliamentary  arrangements  he  can  dictate 
his  own  terms. 

Justin  McCarthy  was  born  in  Cork  in  1830. 
When  he  was  a  boy  the  capital  of  Munster  could 
really  lay  claim  to  deserve  the  traditional  reputa- 
tion of  the  province  for  learning.  Mr.  McCarthy's 
father  was  one  of  the  best  classical  scholars  of  the 
day.  There  was  at  that  time  a  schoolmaster 
named  Goulding — the  name  is  familiar  to  many  a 
Corkman  still — who  was  a  really  fine  scholar. 
Justin  McCarthy  was  one  of  Goulding's  pupils,  and 
when  he  left  school  he  had  the  power  not  com- 
mon even  among  hard  students  of  being  able  to 
read  Greek  fluendy  and  to  write  as  well  as  trans- 
late Latin  with  complete  ease.  Journalism  ap- 
peared to  him  the  readiest  form  of  making  a  live- 
lihood, and,  like  so  many  other  literary  men,  he 
began  at  one  of  the  low  rungs  of  the  ladder.  He 
had   taught  himself  shorthand,  and  his  first  em- 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  385 

ployment  was  that  of  a  reporter  on  the  Cork  Ex- 
amiJier.    It  may  be  an  interesting  fact  to  note  that 
his  hand  still  retains  its  cunning,  and  that  he  may 
often  be  observed  taking  down  on  the  margin  of 
the  Parliamentary  Order  Paper  the  exact  words 
of  some  important  Ministerial  statement  for  quota- 
tion in   his  leading  article.     The  first  important 
piece  of  work,  it  may  also  here  be  mentioned, 
which  Mr.  McCarthy  was  sent  to  do  was  to  report 
the  trials  of  Smith  O'Brien  and  his  colleagues  at 
Cionmel.     There  are  two  other  important  remin- 
iscences of  Mr.  McCarthy's  reporting  days.     He 
was  present  at  the  meeting  in  Cork  at  which  the 
late  Judge  Keogh  swore  that  oath  which  played 
so  tragic  a  part  in  Irish  history ;  and  he  was  also 
present,  we  are  informed,  at  the  famous  dinner  at 
which  the  present  Lord  Fitzgerald,  then  a  rising 
young   lawyer,   in   the    ardor  of  his    patriotism^ 
bearded   a   lord-lieutenant    and    scandalized   an 
audience   of  Cork's    choicest  Whigs.     It  was  in 
1847  ^^"'^t  Mr.  McCarthy  started  his  professional 
life.    All  that  was  young,  enthusiastic,  and  earnest 
in  Cork  shared   the  political  aspirations  of  that 
stormy  time.     There  had  been   in  existence  for 
many  years    a   debating    society  known    as    the 
"Scientific  and  Literary  Society,"  and  one  of  the 
many  forms   in  Avhich   the   new  spirit  roused  by 
Young  Ireland  showed  itself  was  the  starting  of 
the  Cork  Historical  Societ}^  as  a  rival  to  the  older 
and  tamer  association.     Among  the  members  of 


386  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

this  body  were  many  young  men  who  afterwards 
rose  to  importance.  Sir  John  Pope  Hennessy, 
now  Governor  of  the  Mauritius,  and  Justin  Mc- 
Carthy himself  were  among  its  first  recruits.  The 
Historical  Society  became  a  recruiting  ground  for 
Young  Ireland ;  nearly  all  its  members  joined  the 
party  of  combat,  and  they  founded  one  of  the 
many  clubs  that  were  started  to  prepare  for  the 
coming  struggle. 

Justin  McCarthy,  in  his  maturity  of  philosophic 
calm,  can  look  back  to  a  time  when  he  dreamed 
of  rifles  and  bayonet  charges  and  death  in  the 
midst  of  fierce  fight  for  the  cause  of  Ireland.  To 
those  who  know  him  there  is  no  difference  in  the 
man  of  to-day  and  the  man  of  '48.  He  has  still 
the  same  unflinching  courage  as  then.  In  this 
respect,  Indeed,  McCarthy  is  a  singular  mixture 
of  apparent  incompatibilities.  There  is  no  man 
who  enjoys  the  hour  more  keenly.  He  has  the 
capacity  of  M.  Renan  for  finding  the  life  around 
him  amusing ;  enjoys  society  and  solitude,  work 
and  play,  a  choice  dinner  or  an  all-night  sitting. 
He  has  eminently  "a  two  o'clock  in  the  morning 
courage" — a  readiness  to  face  the  worst  without 
notice.  With  his  fifty-five  years  he  is  still  a  man 
of  sanguine  temperament;  but  in  '48  he  was  only 
eighteen.  He  naturally,  therefore,  belonged  to 
the  section  which  had  Mitchel  for  its  apostle,  and 
open  and  immediate  insurrection  for  its  gospel. 
Mitchel  was  arrested,  and  the  cause  failed. 


THE  GREAT   IRISH  STRUGGLE.  387 

With  this  revolutionary  episode  ended  for  the 
time  McCarthy's  political  history,  and  from  this 
period,  for  many  years,  his  story  is  that  of  the 
literary  man.  It  was  in  the  year  1851  that  Mr. 
McCarthy  first  tried  his  fortunes  in  London.  The 
attempt  ended  in  failure,  and  he  had  to  return  to 
the  reporter's  place  in  Cork.  There  was  at  that 
time  a  Royal  Commission  for  inquiring  into  the 
fairs  and  markets  of  Ireland,  and  the  secretary 
having  broken  down,  Justin  McCarthy  was  taken 
on  as  the  official  shorthand  writer.  His  aptitude 
was  such  that  some  member  of  the  Commission 
ureed  him  to  aeain  o-o  to  London,  and  armed 
him  with  letters  of  introduction.  This  was  in 
1852.  McCarthy  again  tried  his  chance,  but 
without  success.  Before  he  could  continue  this 
fruitless  labor  he  heard  of  the  Northern  Times, 
the  first  provincial  daily  of  England,  which  was 
about  to  be  started  in  Liverpool,  applied  for  a 
situation,  and  was  accepted. 

He  was  still  only  a  reporter,  and  even  he  him- 
self did  not  yet  very  well  know  whether  he  was 
fitted  for  better  things.  The  presumption  always 
is  that  the  journalist  who  begins  as  a  reporter 
should  be  allowed  so  to  continue.  But  with 
persistent  energy  McCarthy  worked  on,  gave 
literary  lectures,  and  in  the  end  was  allowed  the 
privilege  of  contributing  to  the  editorial  columns. 
He  remained  in  Liverpool  till  i860.  McCarthy 
was  contended  for  by  several  Liverpool  journals, 

23 


388  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

but  he  declined  all  offers,  fixed  in  the  resolve  to 
make  or  mar  his  fortune  in  London. 

The  young  journalist  had  at  this  time  a  coun- 
sellor who  for  many  years  was  the  chief  arbiter 
of  his  destiny  in  all  the  crises  of  his  life.  Miss 
Charlotte  Allman,  a  member  of  the  well-known 
Munster  family,  had  come  to  reside  with  her 
brother  in  Liverpool.  The  two  young  people 
resolved  to  marry,  in  spite  of  the  strong  opposi- 
tion of  relatives  and  in  the  face  of  frowning  for- 
tunes, and  in  1855  they  were  married.  The 
folly  of  these  young  people  was  more  truly  wise 
than  the  sagacity  of  their  elders,  for  their 
marriage  was  to  both  the  best  and  the  most 
beneficent  event  in  their  lives.  To  those  who 
knew  Mrs.  McCarthy  there  is  no  need  to  dilate 
on  the  resistless  charm  of  her  truly  beautiful 
nature.  She  never  wrote  a  line ;  she  did  not 
even  pretend  to  any  literary  power ;  but  she  had 
the  keen  intelligence  of  sympathy ;  she  had  faith 
in  her  husband,  and  she  had  indomitable  courage. 
It  was  she  that  induced  Mr.  McCarthy  to  refuse 
all  the  Liverpool  offers,  and  that  turned  his  face 
steadily  to  the  larger  hopes  of  London  ;  and  the 
joint  capital  of  the  young  couple  when  they 
landed  in  London  was  ^10. 

McCarthy's  first  London  engagement  was  as  a 
Parliamentary  reporter  on  the  Morning  Star. 
He  found  time  to  do  other  work  in  the  intervals 
of  this  hard  occupation,  and  tried  his  hand  at  an 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  889 

essay  for  one  of  the  magazines.  He  had  taught 
himself  French,  German,  and  ItaUan  ;  was  famil- 
iar with  the  three  literatures ;  and  his  first  attempt 
at  essay-writing  had  Schiller  for  its  subject.  He 
next  tried  the  Wesbninster  Review,  and  two 
articles  of  his  in  that  periodical  attracted  the 
attention  of  John  Stuart  Mill.  The  philosopher 
was  introduced  to  the  young  writer,  showed  a 
friendly  interest  in  his  welfare,  and  helped  to 
advance  his  fortunes.  In  the  autumn  of  i860  he 
was  appointed  foreign  editor  of  the  Mor7iing  Sta7% 
and  in  1865  he  became  editor-in-chief.  Those 
who  remember  the  journal  and  the  times  when  it 
lived  will  know  what  splendid  service  it  did  to  the 
cause  of  Ireland,  and  its  tone  of  energetic  advo- 
cacy of  Irish  national  claims  was  largely  due 
to  the  inspiration  of  the  ardent  man  who  was 
then  at  its  head.  It  was  while  he  was  in  this 
position  that  Mr.  McCarthy  became  intimately 
acquainted  with  Mr.  John  Bright.  In  these  days 
the  ex-minister  was  fond  of  spending  some  hours 
in  the  office  of  the  Star,  in  which  his  sister  had 
some  shares;  and  many  an  hour  did  the  editor 
and  the  politician  spend  together.  It  is  one  of 
the  unpleasant  consequences  of  the  fierce  strug- 
gles  of  the  last  few  3^ears  that  those  two  old 
friends  have  ceased  even  to  speak  to  one  another. 
But  in  1868,  when  Mr.  Bright  sold  out  his  phare  in 
the  Morning  Star,  Mr.  McCarthy  resigned  his 
position  on  the  staff  of  that  journal. 


390  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

He  then  entered  on  a  new  and  highly  inter- 
esting experience.  He  went  to  America,  where 
an  embarrassing  choice  of  offers  awaited  him. 
He  had,  while  still  editor  of  the  Stm%  published 
his  first  novel,  "Paul  Massey,"  in  1866 — a  story 
which  Mr.  McCarthy  has  since  suppressed.  This 
had  been  followed,  in  1867,  by  the  "Waterdale 
Neighbors  " — a  charming  story.  One  of  Mr. 
McCarthy's  first  engagements  was  to  write  a 
series  of  stories  for  the  "  Galaxy,"  a  literary  maga- 
zine in  America.  America  has  changed  greatly 
since  the  Irish  lecturer  went  on  his  first  tour,  for 
at  that  period  the  Pacific  Railway  had  but  just 
been  completed,  and  the  Indians  used  still  to 
haunt  the  railway  stations  in  numbers  sufficiently 
large  to  be  sometimes  dangerous.  Mr,  McCarthy 
was  an  extremely  successful  lecturer,  and  by 
means  of  his  pen  and  his  tongue  found  the  United 
States  a  profitable  field  of  labor.  He  paid  a  brief 
visit  to  London  in  the  middle  of  1870,  returned 
again  in  the  autumn  of  that  year,  and  finally  in 
the  autumn  of  1871  came  back  to  England. 

Meantime  his  name  had  been  kept  steadily 
before  the  English  reading  public.  Immediately 
after  his  return  Mr.  McCarthy  accepted  an 
engagement  on  the  Daily  Nczus  as  Parliamentary 
leader  wri^^er.  For  years  he  was  looked  up  to  by 
most  of  his  editorial  colleag-ues  as  the  man  who 
took  the  most  rapid  and  the  most  accurate  view 
of  a    Parliamentary  situation.     The  work   of  a 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  39I 

Parliamentary  leader  writer  is  by  no  means  easy. 
He  has  to  keep  abominable  hours ;  he  has  to 
watch  for  hours  before  he  can  put  a  pen  to  paper, 
and  up  to  a  recent  period  he  had  to  get  through 
his  task  under  circumstances  of  savage  inconven- 
ience. But  Mr.  McCarthy  has  a  singularly  robust 
physique,  and  every  night  between  four  and  five 
his  spectacled .  and  tranquilly  philosophic  face 
might  be  seen  in  Palace  Yard  with  a  regularity 
that  premiers  never  attained.  His  literary  for- 
tunes, meantime,  steadily  advanced ;  and  in  "  Dear 
Lady  Disdain "  he  wrote  a  novel  which  every- 
body talked  about,  and  upon  which  there  was  a 
real  run.  He  soon  after  devoted  himself  to  a 
very  different  kind  of  work,  under  the  title,  "The 
History  of  Our  Own  Times,"  the  first  two 
volumes  of  which  were  published  in  1878.  The 
book  took  the  town  by  storm.  It  was,  indeed,  a 
model  of  what  contemporary  history  should  be. 
Equal  justice  was  dealt  out  to  all  parties ;  the 
portraits  of  men  were  clear-cut  and  sympathetic, 
and  the  style  was  evenly  melodious  without  one 
single  attempt  at  rhetoric.  The  book  sold  with 
enormous  rapidity,  and  edition  followed  edition 
in  rapid  succession.  Great  as  was  its  success 
on  this  side  of  the  water,  it  was  still  greater  in 
America.  But  the  author  gained  little  from  this 
enormous  American  sale,  for  as  yet  there  is  no 
copyright  between  England  and  America.  His 
old  publishers,  the  Messrs.  Harper  Brothers,  with 


392  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

that  fair  dealing  which  characterizes  all  their  trans- 
actions,  did  send  him  voluntarily  an  occasional 
instalment,  but  they  told  him  that  if  there  had 
been  an  international  copyright  they  could  have 
well  afforded  to  have  given  him  ^10,000  for  his 
rights.  Mr.  McCarthy  is  one  of  the  men  who 
does  not  owe  Mr.  Parnell  anything — as  the  Irish 
leader  would  himself  be  the  first  to  acknowledge 
— but  he  soon  saw  that  in  Mr.  Parnell  there  was 
the  real  chief  of  that  honest  Parliamentary  party 
for  which  he  had  been  vainly  looking.  To  Mr. 
Parnell  then  he  unreservedly  gave  his  support. 
He  was  thrown  into  a  prominent  position  at  an 
epoch  of  fierce  and  tempestuous  passions ;  but 
nobody  was  readier  to  see,  when  the  time  came, 
the  necessity  for  strong  action.  Occasionally  he 
differed  from  the  counsels  of  )ounger  and  less- 
tramed  men,  and  there  are  few  of  these  colleagues 
of  his  who  can  look  back  upon  those  occasions 
when  they  ventured  to  differ  from  their  wise 
counsellor  without  misgivings.  But,  whatever 
might  be  his  views,  Mr.  McCarthy  always  stood 
by  the  rule,  that  in  the  face  of  the  enemy 
the  Irish  party  should  be  a  unit.  He  has 
been  ready  on  every  emergency  to  take  his 
share  of  the  unspeakable  drudgery  to  which  Irish 
members  have  been  subjected,  and  it  imposed  a 
greater  sacrifice  on  him  than  on  any  other  mem- 
bre  of  the  party  to  face  the  odium  which  a  part 
in     these    unpopular     labors    involved.     If    the 


THE   GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  393 

delivery  of  Mr.  McCarthy  were  equal  to  his  in- 
tellectual powers,  he  would  be  amongst  the  fore- 
most speakers  of  the  House.  He  is  ready;  he 
has  clearness  of  head  and  calmness  of  temper; 
and  his  ideas  clothe  themselves  in  language  of 
appropriateness  with  an  unerring  regularity.  He 
has  in  more  than  one  debate  delivered  the  best 
speech  in  point  of  matter  and  of  form.  Mr. 
McCarthy  is  far  superior  to  any  of  his  party,  and 
probably  to  any  man  in  the  House,  as  an  after- 
dinner  speaker.  He  bubbles  over  with  wit  of  the 
most  delicate  and  playful  kind. 

Just  as  his  long  struggle  was  crowned  with  suc- 
cess, and  as  he  became  from  the  obscure  reporter 
the  popular  novelist,  the  successful  historian,  and 
the  member  of  Parliament,  the  woman  without 
whom  he  would  have  remained,  in  all  probability, 
poor  and  obscure  to  the  end,  was  seized  with  a 
lino-erinsf  illness  and  died.  It  would  be  unbe- 
coming  to  even  attempt  a  description  of  what 
this  loss  meant  to  Mr.  McCarthy.  He  has  one 
daughter  and  one  son.  They  share  the  political 
opinions  of  their  father,  and  of  their  mother,  who 
was  a  strong  Nationalist. 

It  is  acquaintance  only  with  Justin  McCarthy 
that  can  make  intelligible  the  strong  hold  he  has 
over  the  affections  of  his  intimates.  It  is  not 
often  that  there  are  found  united  in  the  same  man 
modesty  and  literary  genius,  a  toleration  of  others 
with  a  power  of  absolute  self-abnegation,  a  sane 


394  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

enjoyment  of  every  hour,  with  the  courage  of 
calmly  facing,  for  the  sake  of  the  right.  For- 
tune's worst  blow.  Moderate  in  advice  when  the 
fortunes  of  his  country  are  at  stake,  he  is  always 
boldest  when  acts  involve  only  personal  risk  to 
himself.  It  is  this  mixture  of  tenderness,  shyness, 
and  romanticism  with  a  thoroughly  fearless  spirit, 
that  make  him  so  beloved. 

His  son,  Justin  Huntley  McCarthy,  has  won  a 
high  reputation  for  his  years,  both  as  a  historian 
and  as  a  member  of  Parliament,  although  his 
efficiency  as  a  worker  has  been  impaired  by  feeble 
health. 

Thomas  Sexton  was  born  in  Waterford  in  1848. 
He  had  not  yet  reached  his  thirteenth  birthday 
when  he  entered  a  competition  for  a  clerkship  in 
the  secretary's  office  of  the  Waterford  and  Lim- 
erick Company.  The  post  was  unimportant ;  the 
salary  small;  but  that  did  not  prevent  thirty 
youths  entering  the  lists.  Of  these  Sexton  was 
the  youngest,  and  obtained  the  place. 

Meantime  Sexton's  ideas  had  been  straying 
towards  work  more  suitable  to  his  tastes  than 
that  of  the  railway  office.  And  when  he  was 
twenty-one  he  at  last  determined  to  make  a  bid 
for  better  fortunes.  It  speaks  well,  not  merely 
for  Sexton,  that  even  at  that  early  period  in  his 
career  the  departure  from  his  native  city  should 
have  been  regarded  as  an  event  of  some  impor- 
tance.    A  public  dinner  was  held  in  honor  of  the 


THE   GREAT  IRISH    STRIJGGLE.  395 

deparling  young  citizen.  Sexton  had  become  the 
centre  of  a  group  of  able  young  men,  of  whom 
two,  at  least,  have  since  achieved  a  position  of 
importance — Edmund  Leamy,  and  Richard  Dow- 
ling,  the  well-known  novelist.  Sexton  went  to 
Dublin  with  all  good  wishes,  and  with  the 
strongest  encourag^ement  from  friends  who  had 
faith  in  his  future.  His  start  in  the  Irish  capital 
was  good,  for  he  immediately  obtained  a  per- 
manent post  as  a  leader-writer  in  the  Nation  of- 
fice, from  A.  M.  Sullivan,  at  that  time  the  editor. 
He  contributed  regularly  his  leading  articles 
every  week  to  the  National  youinial,  and  when 
Mr.  D.  B.  Sullivan  went  to  the  Irish  Bar  he  took 
up  the  editorship  of  the  Weekly  News.  He  was, 
for  a  while,  also  the  editor  of  Young  Ireland. 

Busy  with  his  pen,  Sexton  took  practically  no 
part  in  politics,  and  had  done  little  to  justify  those 
promises  of  oratorical  eminence  which  had  been 
given  in  the  debating  societies.  However,  when 
the  Home  Rule  League  was  formed,  he  had  given 
public  proof  of  the  faith  that  was  in  him  by 
joining  its  ranks.  In  1879  he  was  requested  by 
the  council  of  the  Land  League  to  attend  a  county 
meeting  at  Dromore  West,  County  Sligo.  The 
people  of  the  county  \vere  quick  to  discern  the  abil- 
ities of  the  unknown  young  man,  and  he  made, 
from  his  very  first  appearance  among  them,  a 
profound  impression.  Indeed,  even  after  he  was 
elected,  Sexton  was  known  by  Sligo  long  before 


396  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

he  was  recognized  by  Ireland  generally.  Nobody 
could  help  remarking  that  his  voice  was  pecu- 
liarly melodious ;  but  few  had  any  conception  of 
the  great  things  that  were  in  this  thin,  delicate, 
rather  retiring  man. 

He  was  simply  a  writer — a  clever  fellow 
enough  in  his  way — able  to  write  a  pretty  article 
or  a  nice  little  story,  but,  beyond  that,  nothing.  It 
might  be  desirable,  perhaps,  that  he  should  be 
run  because  good  candidates  were  so  hard  to  get ; 
and  because  his  long  training  in  the  Nation  of- 
fice was  some  security  that  he  had  the  right 
opinions.  Sexton  has,  however,  established  a  po- 
sition in  the  councils  of  his  party  and  in  the 
esteem  of  the  whole  Irish  race.  One  of  the  first 
to  discern  the  commandinof  abilities  of  Sexton 
was  Mr.  Healy,  who  urgently  and  constantly 
pressed  the  claims  of  his  friend.  When  at  last 
Sexton  was  sent  to  Sligo  his  difficulties  were  not 
at  an  end.  These  petty  obstacles,  however,  did 
not  come  from  the  masses  of  the  people,  many 
of  whom  had  already  begun  to  appreciate  the 
real  worth  of  the  man  with  whom  they  had  to 
deal ;  and  the  unknown  young  writer  was  elected 
at  the  head  of  the  poll,  above  both  the  Whig  and 
the  Tory  magnates  who  had  previously  sat  for 
the  county. 

Sexton  was  at  last  in  the  arena  where  his 
abilities  had  the  opportunity  of  asserting  them- 
selves.    But   even    in   this   position,  recognition 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE  397 

came  to  him  slowly.  During  his  first  session  of 
Parliament  he  remained  comparatively  unnoticed. 
He  was  phenomenally  constant  in  attendance ;  at 
almost  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night  he  was  to  be 
found  in  that  seat  which  he  had  marked  for  his 
own,  and  he  was  in  the  habit  of  putting  what  was 
considered  a  very  large  number  of  questions. 
But  nobody  yet  had  any  idea  that  there  was  any- 
thing in  him  above  very  earnest  and  very  re- 
spectable mediocrity,  nor  during  the  recess  which 
followed  did  he  advance  his  position  to  any  ap- 
preciable degree.  It  was  on  an  evening  when 
Mr.  Forster's  Coercion  Bill  was  under  discussion 
that  Sexton  broke  upon  the  House  for  the  first 
time  as  a  great  orator.  Mr.  Forster  did  not  pro- 
duce the  blue  book,  in  which  there  were  the  sta- 
tistics of  increased  crime,  until  weeks  after  he  had 
committed  the  Government  to  coercion,  and  days 
after  he  had  introduced  his  bill  into  the  House.  It 
was  in  the  dissection  of  the  extraordinary  details 
at  last  produced  that  Sexton  showed  his  powers. 
The  House  was,  when  he  rose,  but  ill-prepared, 
indeed,  for  such  a  speech,  especially  from  an 
Irish  member;  for  of  the  subject  it  was  already 
sick.  The  circumstances  of  the  moment  tended 
to  increase  the  prevalent  depression,  for  it  was  a 
dull,  dark,  dismal  evening.  The  House  was, 
therefore,  listless,  sombre  and  but  thinly  filled 
when  Sexton  rose.  He  spoke  for  two  hours, 
amid  chilling  silence,  interrupted  but  occasionally 


398  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

by  the  thin  cheers  of  the  small  group  of  Irishmen 
around  him;  and  yet  when  he  sat  down  the 
whole  House  instinctively  felt  that  a  great  orator 
had  appeared  among  them.  Still,  there  was  no 
particular  notice  of  this  splendid  effort  in  the 
newspapers ;  it  was  reported  in  but  a  few  lines. 
But  members  talked  of  it  in  the  lobby  and  the 
smoke-room ;  and,  among  members  of  the  House 
of  Commons  at  least,  his  reputation  was  estab- 
lished. 

Sexton  has  always  been  conspicuous  for  direct- 
ness and  for  good  sense.  Sagacity  is,  indeed,  the 
very  soul  of  his  oratory.  He  not  only  says 
everything  better  than  anybody  else  can  say  it, 
but  he  always  says  the  right  thing.  To  think  of 
him  merely  as  the  eloquent  speaker  is  to  forget 
the  still  greater  claim  to  respect  he  holds  as  a 
man  of  remarkably  well-balanced  mind,  of  keen 
and  almost  faultless  judgment.  There  are  few 
public  men  who  are  less  controlled  by  words 
than  this  master  of  words ;  for,  in  spite  of  the 
many  speeches  he  has  delivered  within  the  last 
few  years,  there  cannot  be  pointed  out  a  single 
sentence  which  could  give  just  offence  to  any  sec- 
tion of  patriotic  Irishriien,,  To  say  the  right  thing 
Is  much ;  to  leave  unsaid  the  wrong  thing  counts, 
in  politics,  even  for  something  more.  He  can 
marshal  facts;  he  can  discuss  figures  with  the 
driest  statistician,  and  can  balance  arguments  with 
the  most  logic-chopping  member  of  the  House ; 


THE  GREAT  IRISH  STRUGGLE.  399 

and  he  can  at  the  same  time  invest  any  subject 
with  the  glory  of  splendid  language.  He  is  at 
once  orator  and  debater ;  his  manner  fascinates, 
his  matter  convinces. 

Sexton  is  a  keen  observer,  and  his  reading  of 
men's  motives  is  helped  by  a  slight  dash  of  cyni- 
cism. In  ordinary  affairs  blase  and  physically 
lethargic,  his  political  industry  Is  marvellous.  He 
enters  the  House  of  Commons  when  the  Speaker 
takes  the  chair,  and  never  leaves  it  until  the  door- 
keeper's cry  is  heard.  He  sits  in  his  place  dur- 
ing all  those  long  hours,  grudging  the  time  he 
spends  at  a  hasty  dinner,  or  the  few  minutes  he 
gives  to  the  smoking  of  the  dearly-loved  cigar. 
He  rarely  approaches  the  discussion  of  any  ques- 
tion without  full  knowledge  of  all  the  facts,  care- 
fully arranged  and  abundantly  illustrated  by 
letters  or  other  documents.  He  has  great 
mastery  of  detail.  With  every  measure  that  in 
the  least  degree  concerns  Ireland  he  is  acquainted 
down  to  the  last  clause,  and  thus  it  is  that  he 
enters  on  all  debates  wdth  a  singularly  complete 
equipment.  Finally,  his  mind  Is  extraordinarily 
alert.  His  opponent  has  scarcely  sat  down  when 
he  is  on  his  feet  with  counter-arguments  to  meet 
even  the  plausible  case  that  has  been  made  against 
him.  This  gift,  aided  by  sang-froid,  makes  him  a 
most  formidable  opponent,  and  even  the  Speaker 
has  had  more  than  once  to  succumb  before  the 
ready  answer  and  the  cool  temper  of  Sexton. 


400  THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE. 

Arthur  O'Connor  was  born  in  London  on 
October  i,  1844.  His  father  was  a  Kerry  man, 
for  many  years  one  of  the  most  eminent  physi- 
cians of  London.  Arthur  was  educated  at 
Ushaw;  and  in  the  year  1863  began  a  clerkship 
in  the  War  Office.  There  was  but  one  vacancy, 
and  there  were  thirty  competitors  ;  O'Connor  got 
the  place,  obtaining  a  higher  average  of  marks 
than  any  Civil  Service  competitor  for  many  years. 
For  the  space  of  sixteen  years  the  young  Irish- 
man led  the  monotonous  life  of  the  Civil  Servant. 
He  was  a  model  clerk  in  being  always  accurate, 
attentive,  hardworking.  But  outside  his  office 
Arthur  O'Connor  was  the  most  unclerklike  of 
men.  He  had  political  opinions  of  the  most 
unpopular,  unprofitable  character.  Then  he  not 
only  professed  Irish  National  principles,  but  he 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  executive  of  the 
Home  Rule  Confederation.  Finally,  he  began  to 
be  seen  in  the  lobby  in  the  Hou'se  of  Commons 
in  earnest  and  frequent  colloquy  with  Mr.  Parnell. 
O'Connor  was  by  no  means  anxious  to  remain  in 
his  dingy  rooms  in  Pall  Mall.  Under  a  scheme 
of  reorganization,  an  offer  was  made  to  him,  as  to 
other  clerks,  to  retire  if  he  chose.  He  did  so 
chpose,  and  shook  the  dust  of  the  War  Office 
from  off  his  feet. 

In  1879  he  was  elected  member  of  the  Chelsea 
Board  of  Guardians,  and  the  main  purpose  which 
he  had  in  getting  this  place  was  that  he  might 


GLADSTONE— PARNELL.  401 

look  after  Catholic  interests.  For  six  months 
not  one  of  the  Catholic  inmates  of  the  workhouse 
had  been  allowed  to  go  out  to  mass,  either  on  a 
Sunday  or  on  a  holiday ;  nor  was  a  Catholic 
priest  permitted  to  enter  the  place ;  no  Catholic 
prayer-books  were  given  to  be  read,  and  the 
Catholic  children  were  sent  to  Protestant  schools; 
and,  finally,  the  institution  was  not  stained  by 
havinof  a  single  " Romanist"  amono-  its  officials. 
On  the  very  first  day  on  which  O'Connor  took 
his  seat,  the  most  eligible  of  all  the  applicants  for 
the  humble  position  of  "scrubber"  was  rejected 
on  the  sole  ground  that  he  was  a  Catholic.  The 
board  consisted  of  twenty  members.  O'Connor 
was  the  single  Catholic  in  the  whole  number. 
O'Connor  was  not  aggressive  in  manner,  nor 
violent  in  language ;  he  made  no  speeches  either 
strong  or  long,  nor  did  he  intrigue,  or  smile,  or 
coax.  He  first  mastered  the  whole  complicated 
system  of  the  poor-law  code.  After  a  while 
O'Connor  had  become  such  an  expert  in  the  law 
of  the  workhouse  that  his  fellow-guardians  found 
he  could  take  care  of  himself,  and  some  of  them 
began  to  seek  his  aid  as  an  ally  whenever  there 
was  any  proposal  which  required  strong  backing. 
But  he  had  been  elected  a  member  of  the  Gen- 
eral Purposes  Committee — the  most  important 
of  all  the  committees.  It  had  the  contracts  to 
give  and  to  examine,  dealt  with  accounts  and 
other  matters  in  the  economy  of  the  workhouse. 


402  THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE. 

O'Connor  devoted  days  and  weeks  to  the  study 
of  all  these  accounts,  with  the  result  that  he  knew 
every  item  intimately.  It  became  impossible  for 
a  penny  to  pass  muster  for  which  full  and  satis- 
factory explanation  was  not  given — jobbery 
trembled  beneath  the  pitiless  eyes  of  this  cold  and 
calm  inquisitor,  and  rogues  fled  abashed.  All 
this  could  not  be  accomplished  without  terribly 
hard  work,  and  every  Wednesday  O'Connor  was 
in  his  place  on  the  Committee  or  at  the  Board ; 
and  thoueh  this  work  often  extended  continuously 
from  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  till  eight  at  night 
with  the  exception  of  half-an-hour  for  lunch,  in 
his  place  he  remained  all  the  time.  For  even  a 
minute's  absence  might  enable  the  jobber  to  rush 
through  his  scheme;  and  not  a  farthing  would 
O'Connor  allow  to  pass,  if  criticism  were  de- 
manded. 

O'Connor's  part  in  Parliament  has  been  such 
as  one  might  have  anticipated  from  his  previous 
career.  He  devoted  himself  to  the  work  which 
was  dryest  and  most  uninviting;  had  acquired  in 
a  short  time  a  knowledge  so  intimate  of  the  rules 
of  the  House  as  to  be  a  terror  to  the  Speaker. 
All  was  done  with  an  air  of  unbroken  severity, 
but  of  unruffled  temper  and  of  inflexible  courtesy. 
O'Connor  was  the  calm,  patient,  lofty  spirit  of 
economy  that  chided,  but  pitied,  and  that  spoke 
in    the  accents  of  sorrow  rather  than  of  anger. 


WIXLIAM    O'BRIEN.    M.  P, 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  405 

Not  one  man  in  a  hundred  would  ever  guess 
when  he  heard  him  addressing  the  House  of 
Commons  that  O'Connor  had  a  drop  of  Irish 
blood  in  his  veins.  The  whole  air  is  rigid, 
serious,  icy.  He  drops  his  words  with  calculated 
slowness,  and  the  subjects  he  selects  for  treat- 
ment are  dry  and  formal  and  statistical — the  sub- 
jects, in  short,  which  are  supposed  to  attract  the 
plodding  mind  of  the  typical  Englishman.  The 
physique  of  O'Connor  suggests  the  idea  of  a 
calmness  and  unemotional  self-control  which  an 
Irishman  is  rarely  supposed  to  possess;  he  is  tall, 
thin,  with  a  sombre  air,  and  a  cold,  dark -blue  eye. 
But  all  these  outward  presentments  are  but  a 
mask ;  in  the  whole  Irish  party  there  is  not  one 
whose  heart  beats  with  emotion  so  profound,  with 
a  hatred  so  fierce.  Analysis  has  divided  enthu- 
siasm into  two  kinds — the  enthusiasm  that  Is 
warm  and  the  enthusiasm  that  is  cold.  The  en- 
thusiasm of  Arthur  O'Connor  is  of  the  cold,  that 
is  of  the  perilous,  type. 

Sufficient  has  been  here  written  of  Arthur 
O'Connor  to  make  intelligible  the  high  respect, 
and  even  affection,  in  which  he  Is  held  by  his 
friends  and  colleafrues.  The  sternness  of  his 
faith  does  not  prevent  him  from  being  one  of  the 
kindliest  of  companions,  one  of  the  most  tolerant 
and  even-tempered  of  councillors. 

Timothy  Daniel  Sullivan — the  future  ballad- 
writer  of  the  Irish  National  cause — was  born  at 
24 


L 


406  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Bantry  in  1827.  The  father  of  the  SulUvans  was 
in  but  moderate  circumstances,  but  education  and 
refinement  descend  socially  deeper  in  Ireland 
than  in  England ;  and  the  parent  of  T.  D.  Sulli- 
van was  a  man  of  considerable  culture.  The 
mother  was  likewise  a  woman  of  large  gifts,  and 
was  for  many  years  a  teacher.  She  seems  to 
have  had,  besides,  a  very  attractive  personality. 
The  home  of  the  SuUivans  was  thoroughly 
National,  and  amid  the  stirring  times  of  1848, 
and  the  hideous  disasters  of  the  two  preceding 
years,  there  were  all  the  circumstances  to  make 
the  faith  of  the  family  robust.  The  father  was 
carried  away,  like  the  majority  of  the  earnest 
Irishmen  of  that  time,  by  the  gospel  which  the 
Young  Ireland  leaders  were  preaching,  and,  as  a 
reward,  was  dismissed  from  his  employment. 

T.  D.  Sullivan,  like  his  brothers,  though 
brought  up  in  a  small  and  remote  town,  had  a 
good  education.  The  chief  and  the  best  school- 
master of  the  town  was  Mr.  Healy,  the  grand- 
father of  the  present  distinguished  patriot  of 
that  name.  Under  his  charge  T.  D.  Sullivan 
was  placed,  and  it  was  probably  from  Mr.  Healy 
that  Mr.  Sullivan  learned  the  most  of  what  he 
knows.  The  ties  between  the  two  families  were 
afterwards  drawn  still  closer,  when  T.  D.  Sul- 
livan married  Miss  Kate  Healy,  the  daughter  of 
his  teacher.  His  younger  brother,  A.  M.  Sul- 
livan,   after   trying   his   hand  as   an   artist,  ulti- 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  407 

mately  became  connected  with  the  DubHn 
Nation.  T.  D.  Sullivan  meantime  had  also 
allowed  his  mind  to  run  into  dreams  of  a  literary 
future.  In  fact  he  had  filled  a  whole  volume 
with  his  compositions ;  but,  with  the  secrecy 
which  youth  loves,  he  had  not  confided  his 
transgression  to  any  one.  But  two  or  three  of 
the  pieces  had  even  appeared  in  print,  and  it  was 
not  till  he  came  to  Dublin  and  began  to  write  in 
the  Natio7t  that  the  poetical  genius  of  T.  D. 
Sullivan  sought  recognition.  Into  the  columns  of 
that  journal  he  began  at  once  to  pour  the  verses 
which  he  had  hitherto  so  religiously  kept 
secret,  and  from  .the  first  his  songs  attracted 
attention.  Many  of  his  poems  became  popular 
immediately  on  their  appearance,  and  spread 
over  that  vast  world  of  the  Irish  race  which  now 
extends  through  so  many  of  the  nations  of  the 
earth.  A  well-known  story  with  regard  to  the 
"  Son  or  from  the  Backwoods  "  will  illustrate  the 
influence  of  T.  D.  Sullivan's  muse.  Most  Irish- 
men know  that  splendid  litde  poem,  with  its  bold 
opening,  and  its  splendid  refrain  : 

Deep  in  Canadian  woods  we've  met, 

From  one  bright  island  flown  ; 
Great  is  the  land  we  tread,  but  yet 

Our  hearts  are  with  our  own. 
And  ere  we  leave  this  shanty  small, 
Wliile  fades  the  autumn  day. 

We'll  toast  old  Ireland  I 

Dear  old  Ireland  !  / 

Ireland,  boys,  hurrah ! 


408  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

This  song,  published  in  the  Natioit  in  1857, 
was  carried  to  America  by  Captain  D.  J.  Down- 
ing. It  rapidly  became  popular,  both  among  the 
Fenians  and  amongr  the  Irish  soldiers  in  the 
American  army.  Every  man  of  the  Irish  Brigade 
knew  it,  and  it  was  often  sung  at  the  bivouac  fire 
after  a  hard  day's  fighting.  On  the  night  of 
the  bloody  battle  of  Fredericksburg  the  Federal 
army  lay  watchful  on  their  arms,  with  spirits 
damped  by  the  loss  of  so  many  gallant  comrades. 
To  cheer  his  brother  officers  Captain  Downing 
sang  his  favorite  song.  The  chorus  of  the  first 
stanza  was  taken  up  by  his  dashing  regiment, 
next  by  the  brigade,  then  by  the  entire  line  of 
the  army  for  miles  along  the  river;  and,  when  the 
captain  ceased,  the  same  chant  came  like  an  echo 
from  the  Confederate  lines. 

The  song  "  God  save  Ireland  "  became  popular 
wnth  even  greater  rapidity.  It  was  issued  at  an 
hour  when  all  Ireland  was  stirred  to  intense 
depths  of  anger  and  of  sorrow,  and  this  profound 
and  immense  feeling  longed  for  a  voice.  When 
"  God  save  Ireland  "  was  produced  the  people  at 
once  took  it  up,  and  so  instantaneously  that  the 
author  himself  heard  it  chorused  in  a  railway 
carriage  on  the  very  day  after  its  publication. 

It  has  been  his  invariable  rule  in  composing 
these  sonofs  to  make  them  "ballads"  in  the  true 
sense  of  the  w^ord — songs,  that  is  to  say,  that 
expressed  popular  sentiment  in  the  language  of 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  409 

everyday  life,  that  had  good  catching  rhymes, 
and  that  could  be  easily  sung.  An  immense 
fillip  was  undoubtedly  given  to  the  demand  for 
abatements  of  rent  by  the  song,  "  Griffith's 
Valuation ; "  and  still  more  successful  was  the 
ballad  of  *•  Murty  Hynes,"  which  was  one  of  the 
most  felicitous  compositions  that  ever  came  from 
his  pen. 

T.  D.  Sullivan  was  elected,  as  is  known,  along 
with  Mr.  H.  J.  Gill,  for  County  Westmeath,  at  the 
general  election  of  1880;  and  in  spite  of  the  ab- 
sorbing nature  of  his  journalistic  duties  he  has 
been  one  of  the  most  active  and  one  of  the  most 
attentive  members  of  the  party.  He  has  been 
still  more  prominent  on  the  platform  ;  and  it  is  at 
large  Irish  popular  gatherings  that  his  speech  is 
most  effective.  He  is  Irish  of  the  Irish  and  ex- 
presses the  deep  and  simple  gospel  of  the  peo- 
ple in  language  that  goes  home ;  and  then  his 
keen  sense  of  humor  enables  him  to  supply  that 
element  of  amusement  which  is  always  looked 
forward  to  with  eagerness  by  the  crowd.  More 
advanced  in  years  than  many  of  his  colleagues, 
he  has,  nevertheless,  been  as  young  as  the 
youngest  among  them  in  his  energy  and  in  his 
hopefulness.  Mr.  Sullivan  has  shrunk  from  no 
work  which  the  exigencies  of  the  situation  de- 
manded, and  has  been  ready  to  take  his  share  of 
the  talking — whether  the  House  considered  his 
intervention  seasonable  or  unseasonable ;  whether 


410  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

he  spoke  to  benches  that  were  full  or  empty, 
silent  or  uproarious.  Erring,  perhaps,  as  a  rule, 
on  the  side  of  over-earnestness,  he  often  lights  up 
his  Parliamentary,  like  his  conversational,  efforts 
with  bright  flashes  of  wit.  "  Punctuality,"  he  said 
once  to  a  colleague  who  turned  up  at  a  meeting 
with  characteristic  lateness,  "punctuality,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  Irish  party,  is  the  thief  of  time." 
Some  of  his  lighter  poems  are  greater  favorites 
with  many  people  than  his  more  serious  efforts, 
because  of  this  same  vein  of  irrepressible  humor. 

James  O'Kelly  was  born  in  Dublin,  in  the 
year  1845.  Among  his  companions  were  a  num- 
ber of  young  men  who,  in  the  dark  hours,  worked 
and  hoped  for  the  elevation  of  the  country ;  and 
he  learned  in  a  school  in  London  the  scorn  that 
belongs  to  the  child  of  a  conquered  race.  O'Kelly 
entered  upon  political  work  at  an  unusually  pre- 
cocious age,  and  certainly  had  not  reached  his 
legal  majority  when  political  aims  had  become  the 
lode-star  of  his  dreams. 

These  political  projects  were  interrupted  in 
1863.  He  had  from  boyhood  longed  for  the  life 
of  a  soldier.  There  was  no  army  in  Ireland,  he 
would  not  serve  under  the  British  flag,  and  he 
entered  the  army  of  France.  He  had  scarcely 
been  enrolled  in  the  Foreign  Legion  in  Paris 
when  he  was  called  upon  to  enter  active  service. 
The  Arabs  in  the  province  of  Oran  were  in  re- 
bellion, and  here  O'Kelly  had  an  opportunity  of 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  411 

learninor  all  the  dancrers  of  Alorerine  warfare. 
When  Maximilian  was  made  Emperor  of  Mexico 
French  forces  were  sent  by  the  Emperor  Na- 
poleon to  win  for  his  nominee  his  new  dominion, 
and  O'Kelly's  regiment  was  one  of  those  which 
were  detailed  for  this  service.  He  took  part  in 
the  siege  of  Oajaca,  and  after  the  fall  of  that 
town  and  the  capture  of  General  Porlirio  Diaz — 
since  President  of  Mexico — he  advanced  north- 
ward, and  was  present  at  the  various  battles 
which  placed  Northern  Mexico  in  the  power 
of  the  French  troops.  Then  the  tide  turned  in 
favor' of  the  Mexicans;  and  at  Mier  the  troops 
of  Maximilian  were  disastrously  beaten.  O'Kelly 
was  made  a  prisoner  in  June,  1866.  But  an  at- 
tempt to  escape,  unless  successful,  meant  death. 
His  guards  proved  careless,  and  in  the  darkness 
of  the  night  he  eluded  their  vigilance.  For  days 
he  had  to  wander  about  in  hourly  peril.  At  one 
time  he  took  to  the  river,  hoping  to  cross  to  the 
territories  of  the  United  States.  The  induce- 
ment to  attempt  this  mode  of  escape  was  his  dis- 
covery of  a  rude  boat  made  from  a  hollowed-out 
tree ;  and  in  this  primitive  craft  he  floated  with 
the  stream,  for  a  day,  and  finally  made  his  way 
into  Texas. 

O'Kelly  had  seen  too  much  of  real  warfare  to 
have  any  faith  in  unarmed  crowds,  and  he  was 
one  of  those  who  opposed  any  attempt  at  insur- 
rection.    These  counsels  did  not  prevail,  and  in 


412  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

1865  there  came  some  sporadic  risings  with  their 
sad  sequel  of  wholesale  arrests,  imprisonments, 
and  long  terms  of  penal  servitude.  By-and-by  the 
movement  began  to  be  more  serious,  and  in  1867 
there  seemed  some  hope.  O'Kelly  then  took  his 
share  of  the  danger  and  the  responsibility,  and 
was  one  of  the  chief  men  of  the  movement.  For 
years  he  had  to  pass  through  the  never-ceasing 
strain,  the  strange  under-ground  life,  of  the  revo- 
lutionary. O'Kelly  passed  through  it  all  with  that 
calm  courage  and  that  cool-headedness  which 
everybody  recognizes,  and,  through  determination, 
vigilance  and  prudence,  succeeded  in  coming  out 
unscathed.  During  the  Franco-Prussian  war  he 
rejoined  the  French  army,  but  when  Paris  sur- 
rendered he  again  left  the  service,  and  once 
more  went  to  New  York.  Up  to  this  time  he 
had  not  seriously  contemplated  adopting  journal- 
ism as  a  profession,  and  his  efforts  had  been  con- 
fined to  occasional  correspondence  in  the  National 
weeklies.  He  applied  for  a  situation  on  the 
New  York  Hei^ald,  and  his  application — like  that 
of  most  beginners — was  received  coolly  enough; 
but  at  last  he  got  his  opportunity.  Mr.  O'Kelly 
was  gradually  advanced,  until  he  became  one  of 
the  editors  of  the  Herald.  In  1873  there  arose  an 
opportunity  which  O'Kelly  gladly  embraced.  The 
rebellion  in  Cuba  was  going  on,  and  it  was  a 
movement  in  which  the  people  of  the  United 
States  took  a  keen  interest.     But  what  was  the 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  413 

nature  and  what  the  methods  of  the  rebels? 
These  were  points  upon  which  no  trustworthy 
information  could  be  obtained.  The  Spaniards 
had  the  ear  of  the  world,  and  the  story  they  told 
was  that  there  was  no  such  thingr  as  a  rebellion 
at  all.  What  now  remained  was  simply  a  few 
scores  of  scattered  marauders,  itinerant  robbers 
and  murderers.  Cuban  refugees  in  the  United 
States  circulated  reports  that  the  Spanish  troops 
were  guilty  of  horrible  cruelties ;  that  they  gave 
no  quarter  to  men  and  foully  abused  women,  and 
the  rebellion,  instead  of  being  repressed,  was 
represented  as  fiercer  and  more  determined  than 
ever.  The  rebels,  few  or  many,  were  hidden  be- 
hind the  impenetrable  forests  of  the  country  as 
completely  as  if  they  had  ceased  to  exist.  To 
reach  these  rebels,  survey  their  forces — in  short, 
attest  their  existence — was  the  duty  which  O'Kelly 
volunteered  to  undertake. 

O'Kelly  knew  when  he  set  out  that  his  task 
wac  difficult  enough,  but  it  was  not  until  he  ar- 
rived in  Cuba  that  he  realized  to  the  full  the 
meaning  of  his  enterprise.  He  asked  a  safe- 
conduct  from  the  captain-general ;  but  that  func- 
tionary plainly  told  him  that,  if  he  persisted  in  try- 
ing to  get  to  the  rebels,  he  would  do  so  at  his  own 
risk.  Throughout  all  Cuba  there  was  a  perfect 
reign  of  terror.  Tribunals  hastily  tried  even  those 
suspected  of  treason,  and  within  a  few  hours  after 
his  arrest  the  "suspect"  was  a  riddled  corpse. 


414  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Any  person  who,  therefore,  was  under  the  frown 
of  the  authorities  was  avoided  as  if  he  had  the 
plague.  O'Kelly  was  invited  to  dinner  in  the 
heartiest  manner  by  a  descendant  of  an  Irishman, 
but  when  this  gentleman  heard  of  O'Kelly's  mis- 
sion, he  begged  him  not  to  pay  the  visit,  and 
promptly  went  to  the  authorities  to  explain  the 
unlucky  invitation.  O'Kelly  was  among  a  people 
a  vast  number  of  whom  would  have  considered  it 
a  patriotic  duty  to  dispose  of  his  person  by  some 
quiet  but  effective  method.  "  It  was  not  pos- 
sible," writes  O'Kelly  in  'The  Mambi  Land' — the 
interesting  volume  in  which  he  afterwards  re- 
counted his  adventures — "it  was  not  possible  to 
turn  back  without  dishonor,  and  though  it  cost 
even  life  itself,  I  would  have  to  visit  the  Cuban 
camp."  O'Kelly  finally  accomplished  his  purpose 
in  full,  but  only  at  extreme  risks.  He  afterwards 
returned  boldly  to  the  Spanish  lines,  and  was  im- 
prisoned, barely  escaping  with  his  life.  He  at 
last  was  sent  to  Spain,  and  then,  through  the 
united  efforts  of  General  Sickles,  Senor  Castelar 
and  Isaac  Butt,  was  set  at  liberty. 

His  next  expedition  after  the  visit  to  Cuba  was 
to  Brazil.  He  returned  with  the  emperor  from 
that  country  to  the  United  States,  and  accom- 
panied him  throughout  his  North  American  tour. 

Before  the  general  election  of  1880  O'Kelly 
returned  to  Europe,  without  the  least  intention 
of  entering   Parliament.     At   that  time,  though 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  415 

known  to  everybody  acquainted  with  the  inner 
Hfe  of  Irish  politics,  to  the  general  public  he  was 
unknown,  except  as  the  adventurous  special  cor- 
respondent. And  it  was  some  surprise  when  he 
succeeded  in  beating  down  so  formidable  an  op- 
ponent as  The  O'Conor  Don.  Regarded  by  the 
majority  of  his  countrymen  as  outside  politics,  and 
remote  from  its  struggles,  its  aspirations,  and  its 
shaping,  O' Kelly  had  been  a  force  in  fashioning 
the  history  of  his  country  for  many  years.  In 
Parliament,  too,  O'Kelly  has,  while  little  known  to 
the  public,  been  one  of  the  most  potent  forces  in 
shaping  the  fortunes  and  decisions  of  his  party. 
He  has  brought  to  its  councils  ereat  firmness  of 
will,  world-wide  experience,  common  sense  and 
a  devotion  to  the  interests  of  his  country  which  is 
absolute.  Though  he  has  given  proof  abundant 
of  courage,  O' Kelly's  advice  has  always  been  on 
the  side  of  well-calculated  rather  than  rash  courses; 
he  has,  in  fact,  the  true  soldier's  instinct  in  favor 
of  the  adaptation  of  ways  and  means  to  ends,  of 
mathematical  severity  in  estimating  the  strength 
of  the  forces  for,  and  of  the  forces  against,  his  own 
side.  His  whole  temperament  is  revolutionary; 
he  chafes  under  the  restraints  of  Parliamentary 
life,  and  hates  the  weary  contests  of  words ;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  he  insists  on  every  step  being 
measured,  every  move  calculated.  Again,  his 
large  experience  of  life  and  the  ruggedness  of  his 
sense  give  to  his  thoughts   the  mould  of  almost 


416  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

cynic  realism,  and  yet  he  is  an  idealist,  for  through* 
out  his  whole  life  he  has  held  to  the  idea  of  his 
country's  resurrection  with  a  faith  which  no 
danger  could  terrify,  no  disaster  depress,  no  labor 
fatio-ue. 

Mr.  John  Dillon,  as  often  happens,  is  the  very 
opposite  in  appearance  and  manner  from  what 
readers  of  his  speeches,  especially  the  hostile 
readers,  would  expect.  Tall,  thin,  frail,  his 
physique  is  that  of  a  man  who  has  periodically  to 
seek  flight  from  death  in  change  of  scene  and  of 
air.  His  face  is  long  and  narrow ;  the  features 
singularly  delicate  and  refined.  Coal-black  hair 
and  large,  dark,  tranquil  eyes,  make  up  a  face 
that  immediately  arrests  attention,  and  that  can 
never  be  forgotten.  A  tranquil  voice  and  a  gentle 
manner  would  combat  the  idea  that  this  was  one 
of  the  protagonists  in  one  of  the  fiercest  struggles 
of  modern  times.  The  speeches  of  Mr.  Dillon 
are  violent  in  their  conclusions  only.  The  propo- 
sitions which  have  so  often  shocked  unsympa- 
thetic hearers  are  reached  by  him  through  calcu- 
lations of  apparent  frigidity,  and  are  delivered  "in 
an  unimpassioned  monotone. 

Mr.  John  Dillon  is  the  son  of  the  well-known 
John  Blake  Dillon,  one  of  the  bravest  and  purest 
spirits  in  the  Young  Ireland  movement.  His 
father  was  one  of  those  who  opposed  the  rising 
to  the  last  moment  as  imprudent  and  hopeless; 
but  was  among  the  first  to  risk  liberty  and  life 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  417 

when  It  was  finally  resolved  upon.  John  was 
born  in  Blackrock,  County  Dublin,  in  the  year 
1 85 1.  He  was  mainly  instructed  in  the  institu- 
tions connected  with  the  Catholic  University. 
He  was  intended  for  the  medical  profession,  and 
passed  through  the  courses  of  lectures,  and  took 
the  degree  of  Licentiate  in  the  College  of  Sur- 
geons. It  was  not  until  after  the  arrival  of  John 
Mitchel  in  Ireland,  after  his  many  years  of  exile, 
that  Dillon  first  appeared  in  the  political  arena. 
He  then  took  an  active  part  in  the  electoral  con- 
test, and  helped  to  get  Mitchel  returned.  The 
rise  of  Mr.  Parnell  and  the  active  policy  brought 
Mr.  Dillon  more  prominently  to  the  front.  At 
once  he  became  an  eac^er  advocate  of  Mr.  Parnell 
and  his  policy. 

Edmund  Leamy  was  born  in  Waterford,  on 
Christmas  Day,  1848.  Waterford  is  one  of  the 
towns  which,  amid  the  terrible  eclipse  over  the 
rest  of  Ireland,  shone  out  with  something  of  a 
national  spirit.  An  influence  that  made  him  a 
combatant  in  the  national  ranks  was  the  early 
companionship  of  Thomas  Sexton.  When  the 
election  of  1874  came,  he  was  an  apprentice  in  a 
solicitor's  office.  In  1880  Leamy  was  put  for- 
ward by  one  section  of  the  constituency,  and  was 
returned.  There  is  no  man  in  the  party  whose 
real  abilities  and  services  bear  so  little  resem- 
blance to  his  public  reputation.  A  touch  of  the 
Paddy-go-aisy    spirit,    a   curious    love    for    self- 


418  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

effacement,  have  hidden  him  from  public  view ; 
but  to  his  colleagues  he  is  known  as  having 
one  of  the  keenest  and  most  original  intellects, 
and  one  of  the  most  stirring  tongues  of  the  Irish 
party. 

On  the  first  day  of  the  meeting  of  the  Irish 
party  the  chair  was  occupied  by  the  Lord  Mayor 
of  Dublin — the  distinguished  patriot,  E,  Dwyer 
Gray,  M.  P.  Mr.  Gray  is  the  son  of  the  late 
Sir  John  Gray.  He  was  born  in  the  year  1846. 
Brought  up  from  his  earliest  youth  in  the  opin- 
ions of  his  father,  he  attained  at  an  early  age  a 
correct  judgment  of  political  affairs.  The  mind 
of  the  son  is  even  clearer  than  that  of  his  father, 
and  refuses  steadily  to  accept  any  doctrine  or 
course  until  it  has  been  fully  thought  out.  Gray 
succeeded  his  father  in  the  management  of  the 
Fj^eemans  yournal,  the  chief  newspaper  of  Ire- 
land. Becoming  a  member  of  the  Dublin  Cor- 
poration, of  which  his  father  had  been  the  guid- 
ing star  for  many  years,  he  soon  attained  to  the 
position  of  its  leading  figure.  At  this  period  he 
was  Lord  Mayor,  and  had  under  his  control  vast 
sums  which  had  been  subscribed  for  the  relief  of 
distress.  Gray  had  been  returned  to  the  House 
of  Commons  shortly  after  the  death  of  his  father, 
and  though  not  a  frequent,  was  already,  as  he  is 
still,  one  of  its  most  influential  debaters.  There 
is  no  man  in  the  Irish  party,  and  few  outside  it, 
who  can  state  a  case  with  such  pellucid  clearness. 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  419 

Pre-eminent  among  the  noble  band  of  patriots 
who  have,  for  years,  been  battling  for  Ireland's 
rights,  and  ventilating  her  fearful  wrongs;  noted 
for  his  abilities  as  a  scholar,  an  orator,  and  a 
journalist,  stands  the  Hon.  Thomas  Power 
O'Connor,  M.  P. 

This  brilliant  journalist  and  gifted  author  was 
born  in  the  year  1848,  in  the  historic  old  market- 
town  of  Athlone,  which  is  situated  in  the  counties 
of  Westmeath  and  Roscommon,  and  stands  almost 
in  the  geographical  centre  of  Ireland.  His  early 
studies  were  at  the  College  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception,  at  Athlone,  where,  among  his  many 
competitors,  he  was  conspicuous  for  his  aptness 
to  learn  and  ability  to  teach  others  that  informa- 
tion which  he  himself  had  just  acquired  at  the 
hands  of  his  reverend  instructors.  He  subse- 
quently entered  the  University  of  Ireland,  from 
which  he  received  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Arts,  and  in  due  course  that  of  Master  of  Arts 
also. 

After  his  graduation,  and  having  acquired  a 
taste  for  literary  pursuits,  he  connected  himself 
with  one  of  the  most  prominent  journals  of  Dublin, 
and  for  three  years  subsequently  he  remained  in 
that  city,  and  contributed  during  that  period  a 
vast  amount  of  historic  and  other  valuable  matter 
to  the  literature  of  the  day.  Desirous  of  a  wider 
field  in  which  to  display  his  many  talents,  he 
removed  to  London  and  accepted  a  leading  posi- 


420  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

tion  on  the  staff  of  one  of  its  most  widely  known 
newspapers,  the  Daily  Telegraph. 

He  served  afterwards  on  various  other  journals, 
gaining  everywhere  a  well-earned  reputation  for 
his  versatility,  and  the  force  and  clearness  of  his 
writinors. 

Among  the  many  attractive  and  useful  works 
of  which  he  was  author  the  first  volume  which  he 
published  was  a  "Life  of  Beaconsfield,"  in  1880. 
It  attracted  considerable  attention  in  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  and  later  on  he  recast  the  work, 
publishing  it  in  an  enlarged  form  under  the  title 
of  "  Lord  Beaconsfield.  A  Biography."  It  was  an 
able  and  strongly  written  book,  and  attracted 
universal  attention,  not  less  through  the  clearness 
of  its  style  and  the  accuracy  of  its  statements 
and  quotations,  than  through  the  terribly  caustic 
and  scathing  criticisms  which  he  visited  upon  the 
public  acts  of  the  great  Tory  leader.  It  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at  that  its  contents  excited  the 
wrath  of  Beaconsfield's  admirers  in  England  and 
elsewhere. 

It  was  in  1880  that  our  gifted  author  began  his 
parliamentary  career.  In  that  year  he  success- 
fully contested  the  county  of  Galway,  and  before 
its  close  he  had  earned  his  spurs  as  an  intrepid 
and  fearless  debater  in  the  many  oratorical  contests 
in  which  he  and  other  noted  Irish,  Scotch,  and 
English  speakers  of  acknowledged  ability,  partici- 
pated. 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  421 

The  promise  that  he  then  gave  of  future  useful- 
ness for  Ireland  and  Ireland's  cause  has  been 
carried  out  to  the  letter. 

Let  us  follow  his  subsequent  career.  He  has, 
since  1880,  been  twice  chosen  to  the  House  of 
Commons  from  the  "  Scotland  District "  of  the 
great  commercial  city  of  Liverpool,  and  on  each 
occasion  by  a  large  and  flattering  majority. 

In  1 88 1  he  visited  the  United  States,  and  made 
a  highly  successful  lecturing  tour,  the  proceeds 
of  which,  amounting  to  a  very  large  sum  of  money, 
he  unselfishly  devoted  to  the  Irish  patriotic 
cause. 

In  1883  his  high  executive  ability  caused  his 
unanimous  elevation  to  the  presidency  of  the  Irish 
National  League  of  Great  Britain,  in  which  trying 
position  his  cool,  dispassionate  judgment  carried 
the  League  through  many  dangerous  and  difficult 
situations ;  dangerous  and  difificult  so  far  as  its 
immediate  prosperity  and  the  success  which  at- 
tended its  influence,  at  home  and  abroad,  were 
concerned.  Always  a  busy  man,  he  found,  or 
rather  made,  time  enough  for  himself  to  edit 
"The  Cabinet  of  Irish  Literature,"  and  to  write  a 
large  number  of  tales,  essays,  and  review  articles. 
His  later  articles  included  "The  Parnell  Move- 
ment," which  was  published  in  1885,  and  the 
present  work,  of  which  he  and  Mr.  Robert  M. 
McWade,  a  well-known  journalist  of  Philadelphia, 
are  joint  authors, 

25 


422  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Among  the  leaders  in  the  Old  Country,  of  the 
great  movement  for  Irish  Nationality,  he  takes, 
as  we  have  said,  a  high  rank  by  reason  of  his 
great  intelligence,  untiring  industry,  and  hearty 
devotion  to  the  cause. 

During  his  Parliamentary  career  his  journal- 
istic labors  have  not  been  relaxed,  notwithstanding 
the  magnitude  and  complexion  of  his  other  public 
duties.  His  voice  has  never  given  forth  an  un- 
certain sound.  He  possesses  that  essential  char- 
acteristic of  a  great  orator — he  knows  when  to 
speak,  and  when  to  be  silent.  When  he  strikes, 
his  blows  go  straight  home  to  the  mark,  and  they 
never  lack  in  force. 

Among  the  younger  members  of  his  party  in 
Parliament,  his  unceasing  vigilance  and  strong  de- 
cision of  character  have  obtained  for  him  a  po- 
sition of  tacitly  recognized  premiership.  Though 
his  majorities  for  the  English  constituency  which 
he  has  so  long  represented  in  the  British  Imperial 
Parliament  have  largely  come  from  the  English 
masses,  he  is  known  on  this,  as  on  the  other  side 
of  the  ocean,  as  being,  first,  last,  and  always  an 
Irishman  of  the  most  intense  type. 

The  men  who  love  Ireland  best,  and  stand 
highest  in  the  love  and  affection  of  her  people, 
have  invariably  been  able  to  count,  without  any 
mental  or  other  reservation,  upon  the  earnest 
patriotism  and  the  whole-souled  fidelity  of  Thomas 
Power  O'Connor. 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  423 

Timothy  Michael  Healy  was  born  in  Bantry, 
County  Cork,  in  the  year  1855.  He  had  pecuHar 
opportunities  indeed  for  becoming  famiHar  with 
the  awful  horrors  of  the  famine,  for  his  father,  at 
seventeen  years  of  age,  had  been  appointed 
Clerk  of  the  Union  at  Bantry.  He  has  told  his 
son  that  for  the  three  famine  years  he  never  once 
saw  a  single  smile.  It  is  no  wonder  that  Healy, 
whose  nature  is  vehement  and  excitable,  should 
have  grown  up  with  a  burning  hatred  of  English 
rule. 

Young  Healy  went  to  school  with  the  Christian 
Brothers,  at  Fermoy ;  but  fortune  did  not  permit 
him  to  waste  any  unnecessary  time  in  what  are 
called  the  seats  of  learning ;  for  at  thirteen  he 
had  to  set  out  on  making  a  livelihood.  Though 
he  has  thus  had  fewer  opportunities  than  almost 
any  other  member  of  the  House  of  Commons  of 
obtaining  education — except  such  as  his  father,  an 
educated  man,  may  have  imparted  to  him  as  a 
child — he  is  really  one  of  the  very  best  informed 
men  in  the  place.  He  is  intimately  acquainted 
with  not  only  English  but  also  with  French  and 
with  German  literature,  and  could  give  his 
critics  lessons  in  what  constitutes  literary  merit. 
Another  of  the  accomplishments  which  Mr. 
•  Healy  taught  himself  was  Pitman's  shorthand; 
and  shorthand  in  his  case  was  the  sword  with 
which  he  had  in  life's  beginning  to  open  the 
oyster  of  the  world.     At  sixteen  years  of  age  he 


424  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

went  lo  England  and  obtained  a  situation  as  a 
shorthand  clerk  in  the  office  of  the  superin- 
tendent of  the  North  Eastern  Railway,  at  New- 
castle. 

English  contemporary  chronicles  are  not  only 
full  of  his  name,  but  absolutely  teem  with  par- 
ticulars of  his  life,  especially  in  its  earliest  years. 
Society  journals  have,  on  various  occasions,  espe- 
cially busied  themselves  with  him,  and,  according 
to  these  veracious  organs,  Mr.  Healy  began  life 
in  a  rag-and-bone  shop,  and,  after  much  labor, 
graduated  into  a  ticket-nipper.  In  various  other 
journals  there  have  been  equally  lively  accounts. 
Mr.  Healy  has  been  described  as  ignorant  and 
impudent,  as  foolish  and  as  crafty,  as  rolling  in 
ill-gotten  wealth  and  as  buried  in  abysmal  pov- 
erty. There  is  no  man  of  any  Parliamentary 
party,  in  fact,  of  which  so  many  portraits  have 
been  painted,  and  who  has  had  to  bear  so  many 
of  these  slings  and  arrows  which  the  outrageous 
pens  of  hostile  journalism  can  fling. 

This  man,  before  whom  ministers  grow  pale,  is 
the  delight  and  the  darling  of  children,  whose 
tastes  and  pleasures  he  can  minister  to  with  the 
unteachable  instinct  of  genius.  In  1878  he  re- 
moved to  London,  partly  for  commercial  and 
partly  for  journalistic  reasons.  After  migrat- 
ing to  London  he  was  asked  to  contribute  a 
weekly  letter  to  the  Nation  on  Parliamentary 
proceedings,  which  had  just  begun  to  get  lively. 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  425 

From  this  time  forward  his  face  accordingly 
became  famihar  in  the  lobby  of  the  House  of 
Commons.  He  at  once  threw  all  his  force  on 
the  side  of  the  "active  "  section  of  the  old  Home 
Rule  party,  and  Mr.  Parnell  has  several  times  re- 
marked that  it  was  to  Mr.  Healy's  advocacy  of 
his  policy  that  the  active  party  owed  much  of 
its  success  in  those  early  days.  In  the  opinion 
of  many,  his  pen  is  even  more  effective  than  his 
tongue ;  mordant,  happy  illustration,  trenchant 
argument — all  these  things  are  still  happily  at 
the  service  of  Irish  national  journalism.  Per- 
haps the  most  remarkable  of  all  Mr.  Healy's  qual- 
ities is  his  restless  industry.  From  the  moment 
he  crosses  the  floor  of  the  lobby  till  the  House 
rises,  he  is  literally  never  a  moment  at  rest — 
excepting  the  half  hour  or  so  he  spends  at 
dinner  in  the  restaurant  within  the  House.  He 
has  almost  as  many  correspondents  as  a  minister, 
and  he  tries  to  answer  nearly  every  letter  on  the 
day  of  its  receipt.  Then  he  takes  an  interest  in, 
and  knows  all  about,  everything  that  is  going  on, 
great  or  small,  English,  or  Irish,  or  Scotch.  The 
extent  of  his  knowledge  of  Parliamentary  measures 
is  astonishing;  Healy  holds  himself  at  the  service 
of  everybody.  And  he  is  never  absent  from  the 
House  when  anything  of  importance  is  going  for- 
ward. He  is,  like  the  Premier,  distinguished  from 
other  members  by  the  fact  that  even  in  the  division 
lobbies  he  is   to  be   seen   utilizing  the  precious 


426  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

moments  by  writing.  The  characteristics  of  his 
oratory  are  rather  peculiar.  Often  when  he 
stands  up  first  he  is  tame,  disjointed,  and  in- 
effective, but  he  is  one  of  the  men  who  gather 
strength  and  fire  as  they  go  along;  and  before  he 
has  resumed  his  seat  he  has  said  some  thing's  that 
have  set  all  the  House  laughing,  and  some  that 
have  put  all  the  House  into  a  rage.  Finally, 
Healy  has  the  defects  of  his  qualities.  The 
ardor  of  his  temperament  and  the  fierceness  of 
his  convictions  often  tempt  him  to  exaggeration 
of  language  and  of  conduct.  Those  who  play 
the  complicated  game  of  politics  for  such  mighty 
stakes  as  a  nation's  fate  and  the  destinies  of 
millions  ought  to  keep  cool  heads  and  steady 
hands.  A  quick  temper  and  a  sharp  tongue 
cause  many  pangs  to  his  friends,  but  keener 
tortures  to  Healy  himself. 

William  O'Brien  was  brought  up  from  his 
earliest  years  in  those  principles  of  which  he  has 
become  so  prominent  and  so  vigorous  an  ad- 
vocate. O'Brien's  father  was  one  of  the  most 
resolute  spirits  of  the  Young  Ireland  party;  but 
afterwards,  like  so  many  of  the  men  who  survived 
that  time,  was  by  no  means  friendly  to  bloodshed 
or  physical  force.  In  time  he  had  to  remon- 
strate with  some  of  his  own  offspring  for  their 
Fenianism,  but  his  mouth  was  closed  whenever  his 
remonstrances  became  vehement  by  an  allusion 
to  the  days  of  his  own  youth.     William  O'Brien 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  427 

was  born  on  October  2,  1852,  in  Mallow,  with 
which  town  his  family  on  the  mother's  side  has 
been  connected  from  time  immemorial.  He 
received  his  education  at  Cloyne  Diocesan 
College.  William  from  his  earliest  years  had 
the  same  principles  as  he  professes  to-day. 
Apart  from  the  example  of  his  father,  he  had  in 
his  brother  a  strong  apostle  of  national  rights. 
This  brother  was  indeed  of  a  type  to  captivate 
the  imagination  of  such  a  nature  as  that  of  his 
younger  brother.  Among  the  revolutionaries  of 
his  district  he  was  the  chief  figure,  and  there  was 
no  raid  for  arms  too  desperate,  or  no  expedition 
too  risky  for  his  spirit.  He  was  arrested,  of  course, 
when  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  was  suspended, 
and  underwent  the  misery  and  tortures  which 
were  inflicted  on  untried  prisoners  under  the 
best  of  possible  constitutions  and  freest  of  pos- 
sible governments.  With  this  episode  in  the 
life  of  the  elder  brother  the  brightness  of  the  life 
of  William  O'Brien  for  many  a  long  day  ceased. 
His  family  history  is  strangely  and  terribly  sad. 

The  first  noteworthy  thing  which  William 
O'Brien  ever  wrote  was  a  sketch  of  the  trial  of 
Captain  Mackay.  This  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  proprietor  of  the  Cork  Daily  Herald  and 
he  was  offered  an  engagement  upon  that  paper. 
There  he  remained  until  towards  1876,  when  he 
became  a  member  of  the  staff  of  the  Freeman  s 
Joui'iiaL     He  did  the  ordinary  work  of  the  re- 


428  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

porter  for  several  years,  with  occasional  dashes 
into  more  congenial  occupation.  Whenever  his 
work  had  any  connection  with  the  condition  or 
prospects  of  his  country  he  devoted  himself  to  it 
with  a  special  fervor.  When  the  Coercion  Act 
was  passed  in  1880,  he  thought  the  moment  had 
come  for  him  to  offer  his  services  to  maintain  the 
fight  in  face  of  threats  of  danger.  His  health, 
however,  was  at  the  time  so  weak  that  his  friends 
feared  that  the  imprisonment  which  was  almost 
certain  to  follow  employment  by  the  League  would 
prove  fatal  to  his  constitution,  and  he  was  dis- 
suaded from  joining  the  ranks  of  the  movement. 
In  June,  1881,  when  the  conflict  between  Mr. 
Forster  and  the  Land  League  was  at  its  fiercest, 
the  idea  occurred  of  establishing  a  newspaper  as 
an  organ  of  the  League  and  Parnellite  party, 
and  he  was  invited  by  Mr.  Parnell  to  found 
U^iited  Ireland  and  to  become  its  editor. 

Great  as  was  his  reputation  as  a  writer  of 
nervous  English,  he  had  hitherto  been  unknown 
as  the  author  of  political  articles,  and  few  were 
prepared  for  the  grasp  and  force  of  the  editorials 
he  contributed  to  the  new  journal.  O'Brien  is 
the  very  embodiment  of  the  militant  journalist. 
Though  he  has  keen  literary  instincts  and  a  fine 
soul,  his  work  is  important  to  him  mainly  because 
of  its  political  result.  Fragile  in  frame  and  weak 
in  health,  he  is  yet  above  all  things  a  combatant, 
ready  and  almost  eager  to  meet  danger.     A  long, 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  429 

thin  face,  deep-set  and  piercing  eyes,  flashing  out 
from  behind  spectacles,  sharp  features,  and  quick, 
feverish  walk — the  whole  appearance  of  the  man 
speaks  of  a  restless  and  enthusiastic  character. 

United  Irelmid  was  suppressed  by  Mr.  Forster, 
but,  with  the  overthrow  of  Mr.  Forster,  the  paper 
was  apfain  revived.  It  soon  became  evident  that 
United  Ireland  was  about  to  enter  upon  a 
struggle  fiercer  than  even  that  with  Mr.  Forster. 
It  seemed  as  if  the  country  would  lie  paralyzed 
under  the  regime  of  packed  juries  and  partisan 
judges.  In  the  stillness  which  came  over  the 
country  under  such  a  regime^  the  voice  of 
United  Ireland  rang  out  clear  and  loud  and 
defiant  as  ever.  The  partisanship  of  the  judges 
was  ruthlessly  attacked,  the  shameful  packing  of 
juries  was  exposed,  and  attention  was  called  to 
the  protestations  of  innocence  that  came  from  so 
many  dying  lips.  In  this  period  it  was  held  that 
no  such  criticism  was  permissible,  and  Lord 
Spencer  resolved  to  crush  the  fearless  and  bril- 
liant journalist.  Then  began  that  long  and  lonely 
duel  between  Mr.  O'Brien  and  Earl  Spencer  which 
lasted  with  scarce  an  interruption  for  three  fierce 
years. 

The  contest  was  opened  by  an  action  against 
Mr.  O'Brien  for  "  seditious  libel."  The  meaning 
of  seditious  libel  is  any  attack  upon  the  Admin- 
istration not  agfreeable  to  the  officials  then  in 
power.     An  action  of  this  character  is,  of  course. 


430  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

no  longer  possible  in  England.  In  the  midst  of 
this  trial  a  vacancy  arose  in  the  representation 
of  Mallow.  It  had  been  arranged  before,  that 
whenever  the  General  Election  came,  Mr. 
O'Brien,  as  a  Mallow  man,  should  appeal  to  the 
town  to  join  the  rest  of  the  country  in  the  de- 
mand for  Irish  rights.  The  opportunity  had 
come  sooner  than  anybody  had  anticipated. 
The  prosecution  of  O'Brien  by  the  Government 
lent  a  singular  character  to  the  struggle,  and  a 
further  element  of  significance  was  added  by  the 
Government  sending  down  Mr.  Naish,  their  new 
Attorney-General,  as  his  opponent.  Mallow 
had  been  a  favorite  ground  for  the  race  of  cor- 
rupt place-hunters  in  the  period  when  a  place  in 
Parliament  was  the  only  avenue  to  legal  pro- 
motion. 

The  contest  for  Mallow,  under  circumstances 
like  these,  attracted  an  immense  amount  of  atten- 
tion, and  all  Ireland  looked  to  the  result  widi  eaeer- 
ness.  But  the  reputation  of  Mallow  had  been 
so  bad  for  so  many  years  that  the  utmost  expec- 
tation was  that  Mr.  O'Brien  would  be  returned 
by  a  small  majority.  The  change  that  had  come 
over  all  Ireland  was  shown  when  it  was  found 
that  O'Brien  had  been  returned  by  a  majority  of  72. 

John  E.  Redmond  is  one  of  the  orators  of 
the  Irish  party.  He  speaks  with  clearness,  cour- 
tesy and  at  the  same  time  with  deadly  vigor.  He 
is  the  man   of  all   others  to  put  into  a  difficult 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  431 

situation — cool,  self-controlled,  a  perfect  master 
of  fence.  There  is  no  Scylla  or  Charybdis 
through  which  he  cannot  steer  the  barque  of  his 
words.  He  has  done  enormous  service  to  the 
cause  by  speeches  in  Australia  and  America,  and 
there  is  no  man  who  produces  more  effect  in  the 
House  of  Commons  in  favor  of  his  own  side. 

Timothy  Harrington  is  the  organizer  par 
excellence  among  the  Irish  members.  He  is  a 
man  of  extraordinary  energy  of  character,  men- 
tal and  physical.  No  amount  of  work  is  capable 
of  fatiguing  him.  He  has  lived  through  a  half- 
dozen  imprisonments,  occasionally  with  the  plank- 
bed  and  prison-board,  and  has  come  out  looking 
more  robust,  more  energetic  and  as  kindly  as 
ever.  He  is  a  curious  mixture  of  the  apostle 
and  the  soldier — overflowinof  with  the  milk  of 
human  kindness  and  at  the  same  time  with  an  in- 
satiate desire  to  "  boss,"  to  organize  and  win — a 
curious  combination  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  and 
General  Grant.  He  is  at  this  moment  the  prac- 
tical Governor  of  Ireland.  As  Secretary  of  the 
National   Leao^ue  he    has  that  immense  oro^ani- 

o  o 

zation  entirely  under  his  control.  He  rules  with 
a  kindly  but  yet  with  a  firm  hand,  bullies  and 
cajoles,  argues  and  vituperates,  makes  long 
speeches  and  dictates  long  letters  and  all  the  time 
beams  upon  the  world  and  looks  for  new  regions 
to  conquer  and  to  lick  into  shape.  People  occa- 
sionally quarrel  with  him,  but  everybody  admires 


432  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

him  and  his  intimates  love  him.  He  has  one  of 
the  best  and  kindliest  and  most  sincere  of  na- 
tures. He  was  a  newspaper  editor  until  the  Land 
League  agitation  brought  him  into  public  life. 
He  threw  himself  into  the  struggle  with  his  whole 
soul,  and  was  soon  one  of  the  most  potent  mem- 
bers of  the  organization. 

At  this  point  we  resume  our  sketch  of  the  Par- 
liamentary campaign  of  1886.  The  8th  of  April 
was  fixed  as  the  day  for  Mr.  Gladstone  to  unfold 
his  new  Irish  policy.  Never  in  the  whole  course  of 
his  great  career  had  he  an  audience  more  splen- 
did. Every  seat  in  evesry  gallery  was  crowded. 
The  competition  for  places  in  the  House  itself 
had  led  to  scenes  unprecedented  in  the  history  of 
that  assembly.  The  Irish  members  were  of 
course  more  anxious  than  any  others  to  secure  a 
good  position.  The  English  members  were  not 
quite  so  early  as  the  Irish,  but  they  were  not  far 
behind ;  and  long  before  noon  there  was  not  a 
seat  left  for  any  newcomer.  Mr.  Gladstone's 
speech  began  by  showing  the  state  of  social 
order  in  Ireland.  Then  he  asked  the  question 
whether  Coercion  had  succeeded  in  keeping  down 
crime.  He  pointed  out  that  exceptional  legis- 
lation which  introduces  exceptional  provisions 
into  the  law  ought  itself  to  be  in  its  own  nature 
essentially  and  absolutely  exceptional,  and  it 
has  become  not  exceptional  but  habitual.  ■  Then 
he   proceeded   to   give   a   reason  why  Coercion 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  433 

had  failed.  Having  proved  that  Coercion  was 
no  longer  applicable  to  the  case  of  Ireland  he 
went  on  to  ask  whether  there  was  no  alternative. 
He  went  on  to  say  that  he  did  not  think  the 
people  of  England  and  Scotland  would  again 
resort  to  such  ferocious  Coercion  as  he  had 
described,  until  it  had  exhausted  every  other 
alternative.  He  then  showed  that  England  and 
Scotland  have  each  a  much  nearer  approach  to 
autonomy  under  Parliament  than  Ireland  has. 
He  next  discussed  the  possibility  of  reconciling 
local  self-government  with  imperial  unity,  and 
after  that  treated,  in  a  masterly  way,  the  nature 
of  the  present  union  of  the  kingdoms  under  one 
Parliament.  He  discussed  in  a  summary  way 
several  of  the  solutions  which  had  been  proposed 
for  the  difficulties  which  the  case  involved,  show- 
ing their  insufficiency.  He  then  announced  his 
own  plan  of  giving  Ireland  a  local  administra- 
tion and  a  local  Parliament  for  home  affairs,  and 
at  the  same  time  gave  reasons  for  rejecting  the 
idea  of  giving  Irish  representatives  seats  in  the 
Houses  of  the  British  Parliament,  the  Irish  mem- 
bers to  have  a  vote  on  imperial  affairs.  He  gave  it 
as  his  opinion  that  the  fiscal  unity  of  the  empire 
should  be  maintained,  except  as  regards  moneys 
raised  by  local  taxation  for  local  purposes.  He 
then  showed  that  Ireland  needed  administrative 
as  well  as  legislative  independence.  He  an- 
nounced the  plan  of  reserving  certain  subjects  with 


434  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

which  the  Irish  legislature  should  have  no  power 
to  deal,  such  as  the  succession,  regencies,  pre- 
rogatives, and  other  matters  pertaining  to  the 
Crown  ;  the  army  and  navy ;  foreign  and  colonial 
relations  ;  certain  already  established  and  char- 
tered rights ;  the  establishment  or  endowment 
of  any  pardcular  religion  ;  the  laws  of  coinage, 
trade  and  navigation — these  subjects  being  re- 
served for  imperial  legislation.  He  then  pro- 
posed a  plan  on  which  the  Irish  legislature 
might  be  organized  ;  suggested  the  powers  and 
prerogatives  of  the  Viceroy  and  of  his  Privy 
Council ;  and  announced  a  plan  by  which  the 
financial  relations  of  Ireland  to  the  rest  of  the 
Empire  might  be  established.  He  next  criti- 
cised as  wasteful  the  present  expenditure  of  public 
money  in  Ireland,  and  discussed  the  Irish  ex- 
chequer and  the  future  of  Irish  credit.  In  dis- 
cussing the  financial  part  of  his  scheme  for  Home 
Rule  Mr.  Gladstone  made  some  very  suggestive 
remarks : 

"  I  will  state  only  one  other  striking  fact  with 
regard  to  the  Irish  expenditure.  The  House 
would  like  to  know  what  an  amount  has  been 
going  on — and  which  at  this  moment  is  going  on 
— of  what  I  must  call  not  only  a  waste  of  public 
money,  but  a  demoralizing  waste  of  public  money, 
demoralizing  in  its  influence  upon  both  countries. 
The  civil  charges  per  capita  at  this  moment  are 
in  Great  Britain  8^.  2d.  and  in  Ireland  16^.    They 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  435 

have  increased  in  Ireland  in  the  last  fifteen  years 
by  sixty-three  per  cent.,  and  my  belief  is  that  if 
the  present  legislative  and  administrative  systems 
be  maintained  you  must  make  up  your  minds  to 
a  continued,  never-ending,  and  never-to-be-limited 
augmentation.  The  amount  of  the  Irish  contri- 
bution upon  the  basis  I  have  described  would  be 
as  follows :  One-fifteenth  of  the  annual  debt 
charge  of  ;!f  22,000,000  would  be  ;if  1,466,000,  one^ 
fifteenth  of  the  army  and  navy  charge,  after  ex- 
cluding what  we  call  war  votes,  and  also  excluding 
the  charges  for  volunteers  and  yeomanry,  would 
be  ;;/^ 1, 6 6 6,000,  and  the  amount  of  the  civil 
charges,  which  are  properly  considered  imperial, 
would  entail  upon  Ireland  ;^ii 0,000,  or  a  total 
charge  properly  imperial  of  ;^3, 242,000.  I  am 
now  ready  to  present  what  I  may  call  an  Irish 
budget,  a  debtor  and  creditor  account  for  the 
Irish  exchequer.  The  customs  produce  in  Ire- 
land a  gross  sum  of  ^1,880,000,  the  excise 
;/^4, 300,000,  the  stamps  ^600,000,  the  income- 
tax  ;^55o,ooo  and  the  non-tax  revenue,  including 
the  post  office,  ;^i, 020,000.  And,  perhaps,  here 
again  I  ought  to  mention  as  an  instance  of  the 
demoralizing  waste  which  now  attends  Irish  ad- 
ministration, that  which  will  perhaps  surprise  the 
House  to  know — namely,  that  while  in  England 
and  Scotland  we  levy  from  the  post  office  and 
telegraph  system  a  large  surplus  income;  in 
Ireland  the  post  office   and   the  telegraphs  just 


436  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

pay  their  expenses,  or  leave  a  surplus  so  small  as 
not  to  be  worth  mentloninor. 

"The  total  receipts  of  the  Irish  Exchequer  are 
thus  shown  to  amount  to  ;^S,2,So,ooo,  and  against 
that  I  have  to  place  an  imperial  contribution 
which  I  may  call  permanent,  because  it  will  last 
for  a  great  number  of  years,  of  ;f  3,242,000.  I  put 
down  ^1,000,000  for  the  constabulary,  because 
that  would  be  a  first  charge,  although  I  hope  that 
it  will  soon  come  under  very  effective  reduction. 
I  put  down  ;^2, 5 10,000  for  the  other  civil  charges 
in  Ireland,  and  there,  again,  I  have  not  the 
smallest  doubt  that  that  charge  will  likewise  be 
very  effectually  reduced  by  an  Irish  Government. 
Finally,  the  collection  of  revenue  is  ;!f834,ooo, 
making  a  total  charge  thus  far  of  ;!^7, 586,000. 
Then  we  have  thought  it  essential  to  include  in 
this  arrangement,  not  only  for  our  own  sakes,  but 
for  the  sake  of  Ireland  also,  a  payment  on  account 
of  the  Sinking  Fund  against  the  Irish  portion  of 
the  National  Debt.  The  Sinking  Fund  is  now 
paid  for  the  whole  National  Debt.  We  have  now 
to  allot  a  certain  portion  of  that  debt  to  Ireland. 
We  think  it  necessary  to  maintain  that  Sinking 
Fund,  and  especially  for  the  Interest  of  Ireland. 
When  Ireland  eets  the  manaofement  of  her  own 
affairs,  I  venture  to  prophesy  that  she  will  want, 
for  useful  purposes,  to  borrow  money.  But  the 
difficulty  of  that  operation  will  be  enormously 
higher  or  lower  according  to  the  condition  of  her 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  437 

public  credit.  Her  public  credit  is  not  yet  born. 
It  has  yet  to  lie  like  an  infant  in  the  cradle,  and  it 
may  require  a  good  deal  of  nursing,  but  no  nurs- 
ing would  be  effectual  unless  it  were  plain  and 
palpable  to  the  eye  of  the  whole  world  that  Ire- 
land had  provision  in  actual  working  order  for 
discharging  her  old  obligations  so  as  to  make  it 
safe  for  her  to  contract  new  obligations  more 
nearly  allied  to  her  own  immediate  wants.  I 
therefore  put  down  three-quarters  of  a  million  for 
Sinking  Fund.  That  makes  the  total  charge 
;^7, 946,000,  against  a  total  income  of  ^^8, 3 50,000, 
or  a  surplus  of  ^404,000.  But  I  can  state  to  the 
House  that  that  ;!f404,ooo  is  a  part  only  of  the 
Fund,  which,  under  the  present  state  of  things,  it 
would  be  the  duty  of  the  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer of  the  three  countries  to  present  to  you 
for  the  discharge  of  our  collecdve  expenditure." 

The  speech  wound  up  with  the  following  pero- 
ration :  "  I  ask  you  to  show  to  Europe  and  to 
America  that  we  too  can  face  political  problems 
which  America  twenty  years  ago  faced,  and  which 
many  countries  in  Europe  have  been  called  upon 
to  face  and  have  not  feared  to  deal  with.  I  ask 
that  in  our  own  case  we  should  practise  with  firm 
and  fearless  hand  what  we  have  so  often  preached 
— the  doctrine  which  we  have  so  often  inculcated 
upon  others — namely,  that  the  concession  of  local 
self-government  is  not  the  way  to  sap  or  impair, 
but  the  way  to  strengthen  and  consolidate,  unity. 

26 


438  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

I  ask  that  we  should  learn  to  rely  less  upon  merely 
written  stipulations,  and  more  upon  those  better 
stipulations  which  are  written  on  the  heart  and 
mind  of  man.  I  ask  that  we  should  apply  to  Ire- 
land that  happy  experience  which  we  have  gained 
in  England  and  in  Scotland,  where  tlie  course  of 
generations  has  now  taught  us,  not  as  a  dream 
or  a  theory  but  as  practice  and  as  life,  that  the 
best  and  surest  foundation  we  can  find  to  build 
upon  is  the  foundation  afforded  by  the  affections, 
the  convictions,  and  the  will  of  the  nation ;  and 
it  is  thus,  by  the  decree  of  the  Almighty,  that  we 
may  be  enabled  to  secure  at  once  the  social  peace, 
the  fame,  the  power,  and  the  permanence  of  the 
Empire." 

The  speech  was  eminently  judicious  in  its  tone. 
The  eagerness  of  the  House  to  hear  its  interest- 
ing details  was  so  great  that  even  faction  was 
silent,  and  Mr.  Gladstone  was  allowed  to  proceed 
calmly  to  the  end.  Immediately  afterwards,  on 
Friday,  the  i6th  of  April,  Mr.  Gladstone  brought 
in  the  Land  Purchase  Bill.  It  will  suffice  for  the 
present  to  say  that  the  main  object  of  that  bill 
was  to  issue  fifty  millions  worth  of  stock  for  the 
purpose  of  enabling  the  Irish  tenants  to  become 
proprietors  of  the  Irish  soil.  The  Land  Purchase 
Bill  played  no  other  part  in  Parliament  ot  itself, 
never  having  been  brought  beyond  the  stage 
of  its  introducUon,  but  it  had  an  indirect  influence 
of  a  fatal  character.     The  Land  Purchase  Bill,  in 


THE  GREAT   IRISH  STRUGGLE.  439 

fact,  more  than  anything  else  killed  Home  Rule. 
The  Home  Rule  Bill  was  immediately  attacked 
from  different  points,  by  Lord  Hartington,  by  Mr. 
Chamberlain,  by  Mr.  Gosehen,  by  Sir  George 
Trevelyan.  The  attacks  were  not,  however,  very 
damaging.  Mr.  Chamberlain  and  Sir  George 
Trevelyan  met  the  bill  by  counter-proposals  which 
were  obviously  ridiculous.  Lord  Hartington  and 
Mr.  Gosehen  were  more  adroit  and  confined  them- 
selves to  strictly  destructive  criticism.  The  for- 
tunes of  the  bill  rose  and  fell  every  day.  A 
large  number  of  the  Liberal  party  were  found  to 
be  without  any  settled  convictions  on  the  ques- 
tion. It  became  evident  as  time  went  on  that 
Mr.  Gladstone  would  have  to  make  desperate 
efforts  to  carry  his  bill,  and  he  certainly  did  make 
desperate  efforts.  Grave  objection  had  been  taken 
to  the  exclusion  of  Irish  members  for  Westmin- 
ster. He  promised  to  meet  the  objection  and 
allow  their  return  to  Westnilnster  on  certain  con- 
ditions. Finally  it  had  been  suggested  that  the 
bills  had  come  upon  the  public  mind  too  rap- 
idly. He  agreed  accordingly  to  drop  the  Home 
Rule  Bill  and  to  reintroduce  it  in  an  autumn  sit- 
ting. The  Tories  and  the  Whigs  accordingly  made 
a  final  attack  on  Mr.  Gladstone  the  following  day. 
Mr.  Gladstone  defended  himself  with  warmth,  and 
practically  repeated  the  same  things  he  had  said 
in  the  Foreign  Office  speech.  But  the  waverers 
among  his  followers  professed  to  find  a  difference 


440  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

between  the  two  speeches.  Mr.  Chamberlain 
called  a  meeting  of  his  followers  on  the  following 
Monday,  and  a  resolution  was  passed  pledging 
the  members  present  to  vote  against  the  second 
reading,  and  the  fate  of  the  bill  was  sealed. 

The  division  took  place  on  June  yth  amid  scenes 
of  intense  excitement.  Mr.  Gladstone  wound  up 
the  debate  in  a  speech  which  was  universally  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  finest  he  had  ever  delivered. 
He  went  over  the  whole  ground,  clearly  recapit- 
ulated and  destroyed  all  objections,  and  wound 
up  with  an  appeal  perhaps  the  most  noble  of  any 
throughout  all  his  magnificent  series  of  addresses 
on  this  question.  But  eloquence  and  reason  were 
lost  upon  the  dull  heads  and  the  malignant  hearts 
that  had  determined  to  humiliate  the  lofty  genius 
whose  magnanimity  rebuked  their  petty  mean- 
ness. When  the  division  was  taken  there  were 
for  the  bill  311,  against  341.  Then  ensued  a 
scene  of  wild  excitement.  The  Tories  cheered 
themselves  hoarse ;  the  Irish  remained  for  a  time 
silent,  and  when  the  Tory  cheers  died  away  they 
rose  to  their  feet  and  cheered  back  in  defiance. 

There  were  tumultuous  scenes  meantime  out- 
side the  House,  and  some  free  fighting,  but  at  last 
the  noise  died  away  and  the  mad  scene  had  come 
to  a  close.  A  few  aays  afterwards  the  ministers 
announced  that  they  had  resolved  to  dissolve  Par- 
liament, and  the  battle  was  now  transferred  from 
the  House  of  Commons  to  the  constituencies. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE   APPEAL   TO   THE   COUNTRY. 

WHEN  the  appeal  to  the  country  began 
the  signs  were  favorable  to  the  Govern- 
ment. Throughout  the  whole  of  the  country  the 
Liberal  associations  founded  by  Mr.  Chamber- 
Iain  had  met,  and  with  scarcely  an  exception  had 
pronounced  against  the  men  who  refused  to  do 
justice  to  Ireland.  Even  Mr.  Chamberlain  him- 
self had  not  been  spared,  and  at  a  crowded 
meeting  a  resolution  had  been  carried  against 
him  with  very  little  dissent.  The  working  classes 
gave  testimony  in  favor  of  the  Irish  cause.  No 
Irishman,  indeed,  who  has  gone  through  this 
crisis  has  failed  to  be  deeply  impressed  with  the 
attitude  of  the  English,  Scotch  and  Welsh  de- 
mocracy. Whatever  misgivings  or  divisions  there 
were  among  other  secdons  of  society,  there  was 
scarcely  any  among  the  masses  of  tlie  people. 
They  were  not  only  favorable  to  the  policy  of 
Mr.  Gladstone,  but  they  were  enthusiastic  in  its 
favor.  Opponents  of  the  measure  could  scarcely 
get  a  hearing.  Mr.  Richard  Chamberlain,  who 
had  followed  his  brother  in  attacking  the  policy 

445 


446  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

of  the  Government,  was  unable  after  a  time  to 
hold  any  meetings  whatever. 

But  all  this  time  the  enemies  of  Mr.  Gladstone 
were  at  work.  Lord  Hartington  went  from  one 
part  of  the  country  to  the  other,  everywhere  de- 
nouncing the  policy  of  the  Prime  Minister.  His 
speeches  were,  however,  marked  by  dignity,  self- 
control  and  perfect  freedom  from  mean  or  ma- 
levolent insinuation.  Mr.  Goschen  worked  even 
harder,  and  spoke  in  every  part  of  the  country. 
He  also,  though  he  spoke  strongly,  spoke  with 
becoming  decorum,  except  when  dealing  with  the 
unfortunate  Irish  members.  But  Mr.  Chamber- 
lain threw  off  the  mask  completely,  and  attacked 
the  Prime  Minister  in  lanoruaore  of  most  vindictive 
bitterness.  He  brought  all  sorts  of  charges 
against  him,  but  the  climax  was  reached  in 
Cardiff,  where  he  suggested  that  Mr.  Gladstone 
had  consulted  American  revolutionaries  before 
formulating  his  policy.  Of  course  the  charge 
was  utterly  untrue  ;  but  it  produced  a  starding 
and  tremendous  effect.  From  all  parts  of  the 
great  hall  came  shouts  of  "Traitor!  Traitor!" 
Nor  did  Mr.  Chamberlain  fight  the  batde  with 
honesty  on  any  point,  but  consummate  duplicity 
was  freely  employed. 

Mr.  Bright  finally  joined  in  the  combination 
against  the  Prime  Minister.  He  also  dealt  at 
great  length  with  the  question  of  Land  Purchase, 
but  he  was  almost  as  uncandid  on  this  point  as 


THE  GREAT  IRISH  STRUGGLE.  447 

Mr.  Chamberlain.  In  the  Land  Act  of  1870  there 
were  clauses  which  are  kno-^wn  as  the  Bright 
clauses.  These  clauses  deal  entirely  with  the 
question  of  Land  Purchase.  They  are  the  first 
enactments  on  the  British  Statute  Book  in  favor 
of  allowing  the  tenants  to  become  the  owners  of 
their  holdings  with  the  assistance  ol  the  State,  and 
in  fact  the  idea  of  land  purchase  first  became  a 
part  of  practical  politics  through  Mr.  Bright  him- 
self.    He  is  the  father  of  the  whole  policy. 

Previous  to  1880  he  made  several  speeches  in 
Ireland  and  elsewhere,  in  which  he  laid  down  that 
the  real  settlement  of  the  land  difficulty  of  Ire- 
land was  a  vast  and  wholesale  scheme  of  land 
purchase.  He  now  attacked  Mr.  Gladstone  for 
carrying  out  a  policy  which  he  himself  had  been 
the  strongest  to  advocate.  He  also  took  up 
stronger  ground  than  almost  any  other  opponent 
of  Mr.  Gladstone's  policy.  To  any  Parliament  of 
any  kind  whatever  in  Dublin  he  declared  himself 
entirely  opposed. 

There  were  various  other  causes  which  con- 
tributed to  defeat  Mr.  Gladstone.  Many  people 
throughout  the  country  were  deeply  concerned  for 
the  safety  of  the  Irish  Protestants,  ignorant  of  the 
central  fact  of  Irish  history  that  National  move- 
ments have,  with  the  single  exception  of  O'Con- 
nell's,  always  had  Protestants  as  their  leaders,  and 
that  the  present  leader  of  the  Irish  party  is  a  Prot- 
estant, and  that  in  electoral  matters  many  of  the 


448  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

fiercest  struggles  have  been  on  the  side  of  a 
Protestant  Nationalist  against  a  Catholic  Whig. 
The  "  No-Popery  "  cry  has  not  died  out  in  Eng- 
land, but  represents  a  force  that  is  not  spent. 

But  the  thing  above  all  others  which  proved 
effective  against  the  Government  was  the  Land 
Purchase  scheme.  Under  the  bill  of  Mr.  Glad- 
stone there  would  not  have  been  the  possibility 
of  the  loss  of  a  farthing  to  the  Bridsh  exchequer  ; 
but  Mr.  Chamberlain,  Mr.  Bright,  and  a  great 
many  others  repeated  it  so  often  that  it  was  finally 
believed  that  the  meaning  of  the  bill  was  that  the 
British  taxpayer  would  have  to  spend  ;^i  50,000,- 
000  in  paying  the  Irish  landlord.  It  was  a  singu- 
lar Nemesis  on  the  landlords  of  Ireland  that  their 
tyranny  and  cruelty  had  become  so  well  known 
that  hatred  of  them  had  grown  into  a  passion  with 
the  British  as  with  the  Irish  democracy,  and  for 
the  working-classes  of  the  country  to  be  called 
upon  to  have  to  pay  higher  taxes  in  order  that 
these  scoundrels  might  get  a  heavy  price  for  their 
stolen  goods  was  a  project  against  which  the 
workingman's  stomach  revolted ;  and  in  voting 
against  the  Gladstonian  candidate,  or  refusing  to 
vote  for  him,  vast  numbers  of  men  were  impelled 
by  the  idea  that  they  were  striking  a  blow  against 
the  hated  tyrants  of  the  Irish  soil. 

Finally  the  Tories  and  the  Liberal  Unionists 
had  made  a  treaty  which  was  carried  out  with 
astonishing  fidelity  in  every  place  in  which  it  was 


THE   GREAT   IRISH  STRUGGLE.  449 

made.  Every  Liberal  who  voted  against  the  bill 
was  promised  by  the  Tories  freedom  from  all  Tory 
opposition.  The  result  of  it  was  that  in  a  vast 
number  of  constituencies,  nearly  one  hundred 
altogether,  the  Liberal  who  opposed  Mr.  Glad- 
stone had  the  solid  Tory  vote,  and  it  will  be  clear 
that  it  required  but  a  small  percentage  of  his  own 
following  among  the  Liberals  to  be  able  to  win  a 
seat  on  a  contest  of  such  a  character.  In  this 
way  a  number  of  Liberals  were  returned  to  Par- 
liament by  Tory  votes,  and  of  course,  with  this 
vote,  were  able  in  most  instances  to  defy  attacks 
made  upon  their  seats  by  the  honest  liberalism 
of  the  constituencies.  Nevertheless,  this  union 
of  bitter  opponents  proved  ineffective  in  some 
remarkable  cases,  and  several  of  the  most  prom- 
inent enemies  of  Ireland  were  defeated.  Mr. 
Goschen  was  beaten  by  an  immense  majority  in 
Edinburgh ;  Sir  George  Trevelyan  was  routed  in 
the  Border  Burghs  after  holding  the  seat  for 
eighteen  years ;  Mr.  Albert  Grey,  with  all  the 
influence  of  Lord  Grey,  a  large  landed  proprietor, 
and  of  the  Tories  and  Whigs,  was  beaten  for  the 
Tyneside  Division,  and  Lord  Hartington  had  to 
rely  almost  wholly  on  Tory  votes  in  his  own  con- 
stituency of  Rossendale. 

In  Ireland,  meantime,  the  Parnellites  had  been 
winning  their  way  steadily  after  the  usual  fashion. 
It  had  been  declared  over  and  over  again  both  in 
the  debates  in  Parliament  and  during  the  election 


450  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

campaign  that  tire  Parnellite  members  represented 
but  a  minority  of  the  Irish  population,  and  that 
their  return  had  been  brought  about  by  the  intim- 
idation of  the  loyal  portion  of  the  inhabitants. 
Nevertheless,  in  the  majority  of  seats  the  loyalists 
in  the  election  of  1886  did  not  even  venture  upon 
a  contest,  the  reason  of  course  being  that  there 
was  no  chance  whatever  of  winning  seats,  and 
they  were  afraid  of  showing  their  nakedness  to 
the  enemy.  There  was  one  important  victory 
and  there  were  two  important  defeats.  Mr.  Sex- 
ton renewed  his  attack  on  West  Belfast  and  was 
returned  by  a  startlingly  large  majority.  On  the 
other  hand,  Mr.  Healy  was  beaten  for  South 
Derry,  and  Mr.  William  O'Brien  for  South  Ty- 
rone. Thus  the  result  of  these  two  defeats  was 
to  reverse  the  verdict  of  Ulster  at  the  previous 
election  to  the  extent  of  giving  the  Orangemen 
the  majority  of  one  which  was  hitherto  held  by 
the  Nationalists.  This  majority,  however,  is  not 
yet  secure.  Mr.  Justin  McCarthy  fought  again 
for  Derry  City ;  the  majority  against  him  was 
declared  to  be  three,  but  a  petition  has  since  been 
presented  making  charges  of  personation  and 
unfair  rejection  of  votes,  and  as  all  the  officials 
were  unscrupulous  Orangemen  it  is  more  than 
probable  that  the  petition  will  prove  successful. 
And  thus  again  the  Nationalists  would  be  masters 
of  Ulster.  Another  registration  will  probably 
give   them    two   or   three   more   seats,  and    the 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  451 

Orange  faction  will  be  reduced  to  its  proper  di- 
mensions. When  the  elections  were  over  it  was 
found  that  the  following  had  been  returned :  Con- 
servatives, 317;  Liberal  Unionists,  75;  Home 
Rule  Liberals,  191  ;  Parnellites,  85;  Speaker,  i. 
This  does  not  account  for  the  Orkney  and  Shet- 
land Islands,  the  result  of  the  elections  for  which 
were  not  known  until  long  after  the  others  were 
disposed  of.  For  those  islands,  however,  a  Glad- 
stonian  was  returned. 

It  will  be  well  to  say  a  word  or  two  about  the 
number  of  votes  that  were  given.  The  figures 
were  as  follows  :  For  the  Conservatives,  1,106,651 
votes;  Liberal  Unionists,  417,456;  Gladstonian 
Liberals,  1,347,983;  Parnellites,  99,669.  Total, 
2,971,759.  Conservatives  and  Liberal  Unionists 
combined,  1,524,107.  Gladstonian  Liberals  and 
ParnelHtes,  1,447,652.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that 
out  of  a  total  of  nearly  three  millions  of  votes 
in  the  three  countries  there  was  a  majority  for 
Unionists  of  76,455.  If  we  turn  to  Wales  we 
find  that  the  vote  was :  Gladstonian  Liberals,  60,- 
083 ;  Conservatives,  28,897 !  Liberal  Unionists, 
10,005.  Thus  in  the  principality  of  Wales  there 
was  a  Ministerial  majority  of  11,578  of  the  entire 
population.  In  Scotland  the  total  poll  was: 
Gladstonian  Liberals,  191,443;  Liberal  Unionists, 
113,222  ;  Conservatives,  50,800.  And  thus  there 
was  a  majority  for  Home  Rule  in  the  Scotch 
electorate  of  27421.    In  England  alone  was  there 


452  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

a  majority  against  Home  Rule.  The  numbers 
were  in  England :  Conservatives,  938,487;  Liberal 
Unionists,  264,643  ;  total  Unionist  vote,  1,203,130. 
Gladstonian  Liberals,  1,096,45  7  ;  Parnellites,  2,91 1. 
Total  Ministerial  vote,  1,099,368;  Unionist  ma- 
jority, 103,762.  At  all  events,  in  England,  Wales 
and  Scotland  alone  1,347,983  people  have  voted 
for  Home  Rule.  A  year  before  the  Home  Rulers 
in  England  were  perhaps  not  more  than  a  few 
thousand.  At  this  election  the  Home  Rulers 
were  nearly  a  million  and  a  half.  And  this  is  no 
reason  (to  say  the  least)  for  discouragement. 
If  we  look  upon  the  composition  of  the  new  House 
we  find  equally  good  reason  for  satisfaction.  The 
Liberal  Unionists  are  a  hopeless  party  reduced 
in  numbers,  incapable  of  forming  an  administra- 
tion, and  perhaps  incapable  of  holding  together, 
and  Conservatives  can  only  maintain  an  adminis- 
tration by  the  countenance  and  support  of  a  cer- 
tain section  of  the  Liberal  Unionists,  and  there- 
fore by  the  continuance  of  the  split  between  the 
different  sections  of  the  Liberal  party. 

A  prominent  and  startling  series  of  events 
has  taken  place  of  late  in  Belfast  and  its  vicin- 
ity. There  has  occurred  in  that  important  city 
a  succession  of  terribly  bloody  riots  between  the 
Protestant  and  the  Catholic  portions  of  the  pop- 
ulace. The  overwhelming  majority  of  the  re- 
ports confirm  the  truth  of  the  statement  that  the 
Protestants  in  almost  if  not  quite  every  case  have 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  453 

been  the  aggressive  party,  and  it  appears  that 
they  have  surpassed  their  adversaries  in  cruelty 
and  bitter  zeal.  The  friends  of  Ireland  have  not 
forgotten  the  recent  speech  of  Lord  Randolph 
Churchill,  in  which  he  appeared  to  advise  his 
loyalist  hearers  to  take  just  exactly  the  course 
that  these  misguided  bigots  have  taken. 

The  opinion  very  generally  held  by  well-in- 
formed Home  Rulers,  that  Ireland  has  more 
reason  to  expect  favors  from  the  Conservative 
leaders  than  from  a  party  so  divided  as  is  the  so- 
called  Liberal  party  of  to-day,  finds  considerable 
support  from  the  present  aspect  of  public  affairs 
in  Great  Britain.  Already  the  air  is  full  of 
rumors  of  grand  and  generous  movements  to  be 
executed  under  Conservative  auspices.  One 
Conservative  project  is  said  to  look  to  the  speedy 
concession  of  Home  Rule  to  England,  to  Scot- 
land and  to  Wales,  as  well  as  to  Ireland— the 
united  kingdom  to  be  by  this  process  transformed 
into  a  Federal  Union  of  autonomous  states.  This 
project  is  at  present  a  crude  one ;  and  the  an- 
swer to  the  question  as  to  whether  Ireland  would 
be  willing  to  become  a  member  of  such  a  federa- 
tion must  depend  largely  upon  the  details  of  the 
scheme.  These  details,  however,  are  as  yet  un- 
known to  the  general  public,  and  it  is  enough 
to  say  that  even  those  who  may  favor  this 
plan  have  not  as  yet  given  to  it  any  definite 
shape. 


AMERICA'S  PART. 


"THE  POWER  BEHIND  THE  THRONE." 


By  ROBERT  M.  McWADE,  Esq. 

WITH    INTRODUCTION    BY 

PROFESSOR  ROBERT  E.  THOMPSON,  D.D..  LL.D. 

OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 


(465) 


AMERICAN   INTRODUCTION. 


I  ACCEPTED  the  invitation  of  my  friend  Mr. 
Robert  M.  McWade  to  write  something  by 
way  of  preface  to  his  able  and  authentic  account 
of  the  Irish  National  League  in  America,  not  as 
hoping-  to  add  anything  to  its  interest,  but  be- 
cause there  were  some  things  which  ought  to  be 
said  to  American  readers  of  this  book,  and  which  I 
may  be  in  a  better  position  to  say  than  he  is.  As 
an  economist,  an  Irish.  Protestant,  and  not  a 
member  of  the  League,  although  I  have  worked 
with  it  with  voice  and  pen  in  behalf  of  Ireland, 
I  can  speak  as  a  somewhat  disinterested  observer 
of  its  labors  and  its  achievements.  And  for  the 
same  reason  I  can  speak  freely  of  some  American 
prejudices  which  stand  in  the  way  of  the  re- 
coo^nition  of  Ireland's  riofhts. 

The  educational  work  of  the  Irish  National 
League  in  America  has  been  more  effective  in 
moulding  public  opinion  than  probably  its  own 
representatives  are  aware.  By  reason  of  the 
absorption  of  Americans  in  questions  of  home 
rather    than    foreign    politics,    and  the    general 

27  (457) 


i58  AMERICAN   INTRODUCTION. 

diffusion  of  English  books  and  newspapers  in 
this  country,  there  has  been  and  there  still  is  a 
great  amount  of  both  ignorance  and  prejudice  on 
this  subject  in  America.  But  both  are  dissipating 
rapidly,  and  for  that  thanks  to  the  League  mainly. 
The  dignity,  the  sincerity,  the  mingled  sobriety 
and  enthusiasm  of  the  annual  conventions,  and 
the  ample  self-sacrifices  made  by  the  League  at 
large  in  behalf  of  Ireland,  have  produced  a  deep 
and  growing  impression  for  good.  It  is  an 
Encrlish  delusion  that  Ireland  has  no  American 
friends  except  among  the  politicians  who  want 
Irish  votes.  My  own  associations  are  very  slight 
with  that  class  of  Americans,  and  very  intimate 
with  those  whose  opinions  are  formed  on  better 
grounds ;  and  I  can  testify  that  it  is  becoming 
rarer  with  every  year  to  find  an  American  who 
wishes  the  continuance  of  British  rule  in  Ireland,  or 
who  does  not  believe  in  "Ireland  for  the  Irish." 

There  still  are  a  few  who  object  to  this  ques- 
tion being  brought  into  prominence  in  America. 
They  say  it  should  be  fought  out  at  home,  and 
that  Irishmen  who  become  American  citizens 
should  leave  their  old-world  questions  behind 
them,  as  do  the  Germans  or  the  Norwegians  who 
come  to  America.  But  the  American  people 
generally  recognize  a  great  difference  in  the  case 
of  the  Irish.  They  know  that  this  people  have 
been  driven  by  millions  from  their  native  land  by 
the  misrule  of  an  alien  government,  and  are  in 
effect  exiles  as  well  as   immigrants.     And  they 


AMERICAN   INTRODUCTION.  459 

know  that  the  Irish  people  in  America  have  to 
spend  millions  every  year  out  of  their  wages  and 
earnings  to  save  their  kindred  at  home  from 
eviction,  and  that  every  few  years  they  have  to 
add  largely  to  those  millions  to  save  their  country- 
men from  the  famines  produced  by  alien  rule. 

With  some  patriotic  Americans  there  is  a 
shrlnkinof  from  ownino-  the  riofht  of  Ireland  to  con- 
trol  her  own  affairs,  because  of  a  fancied  anal- 
ogy between  Home  Rule  and  Secession,  on 
which  Ireland's  enemies — Prof.  Goldwin  Smith  and 
others — have  insisted  very  skillfully.  There  is  no 
7'eal  analogy  between  the  two  things.  The  Amer- 
ican States  which  attempted  to  secede  in  186-1 
had  given  their  full  and  free  consent  to  the  Union 
of  1 789,  in  the  face  of  the  warning  that  if  they 
entered  it  they  could  not  withdraw  without  the 
consent  of  three-fourths  of  the  States.  Ireland 
— as  Mr.  Leckey  and  Mr.  Gladstone  both  remind 
us — never  o-ave  her  consent  to  the  Union  of  1801I. 
"The  whole  unbought  intellect  of  Ireland  re- 
sisted it,"  Mr.  Leckey  says.  Before  i860 — as 
Mr.  Alexander  Stephens  reminded  the  people  of 
Georgia  in  discussing  the  proposal  to  secede — 
the  South  exercised  a  controlling  influence  on 
the  policy  oi  the  country,  and  had  not  a  single 
substantial  grievance  to  plead.  Ireland  since 
1 801  has  been  a  hopeless  and  powerless  minority, 
ofoverned  accordino-  to  Enoflish  ideas  and  in- 
terests  rather  than  her  own,  and  in  defiance  of 
pledges  contained  in  the  Treaty  of  Union  itself. 


460  AMERICAN   INTRODUCTION. 

The  secession  movement  was  a  spurt  of  excited 
passion,  which  experience  has  shown  not  to  have 
destroyed  the  patriotic  attachments  of  the  Soutli- 
ern  people.  Ireland's  hostiHty  to  English  rule 
has  been  age-long,  unrelenting,  ineradicable. 

It  is  true  that  the  one  hundred  and  five  mem- 
bers secured  Ireland  in  the  Imperial  Parliament 
have  made  a  kind  of  representation  of  the  coun- 
try. But  what  avails  this  number  against  four 
times  as  many  English  and  Scotch  members  who 
know  and  care  nothing  about  the  needs  and 
prejudices,  the  political  and  social  ideas  of  the 
Irish  people,  and  who  are  alien  to  them  in  blood, 
religion  and  historical  traditions  ?  Take  but  one 
instance  of  the  workings  of  the  arrangement. 
The  Irish  people,  like  Catholic  peoples  generally, 
think  the  relief  of  the  poor  is  a  matter  for  indi- 
vidual charity  and  church  oversight.  Yet  England 
forced  her  poor-law  upon  Ireland,  lev^^ing  a  rate 
for  the  public  relief  of  the  destitute,  and  build- 
ing workhouses,  on  whose  inmates  alone  this 
relief  is  bestowed.  And  she  enacted  it  for  Ire- 
land with  a  seventy  unknown  even  in  Great 
Britain.  She  forbade  out-door  relief  even  in  times 
of  the  most  general  distress,  requiring  every 
recipient  to  become  an  inmate  of  the  workhouse. 
As  hardly  anything  could  be  more  disgraceful  in 
the  eyes  of  the  Celtic  peasant,  there  have  been 
many  cases  in  which  the  people  la)'  down  and 
died  of  hunger  sooner  than  enter  "  the  house." 
And  this  is  why  the  Irish  in  every  year  of  famine 


AMERICAN   INTRODUCTION.  461 

turn  to  appeal  to  the  chanties  of  the  world  at 
large,  rather  than  ask  help  of  the  government  of 
their  country. 

With  some  Americans  the  objection  derived 
from  religious  differences  has  weight.  They 
have  so  little  reo^ard  for  their  Protestantism  that 
they  are  willing  to  saddle  it  with  a  great  national 
injustice,  rather  than  see  Ireland  controlled  by  a 
Roman  Catholic  majority.  Let  me  ask  their  at- 
tention to  two  points:  The  first  is,  that  Ireland 
is  the  one  country  of  Europe  which  has  no  re- 
ligious establishment,  and  that  it  is  going  to  have 
none.  The  national  party  avow  their  readiness 
to  accept  Home  Rule  on  a  footing  which  forbids 
government  favors  to  any  church  or  sect.  The 
second  is,  that  the  only  religious  question  left  to 
fight  over  is  the  education  question,  and  that  on 
that  the  majority  of  the  Protestants — and  espe- 
cially the  Orange  party  among  the  Protestants — 
are  in  complete  agreement  with  the  hierarchy  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  They  both  wish 
the  abolition  of  the  national  schools,  in  which 
religious  instruction  is  both  vague  and  scanty. 
They  both  wish  to  substitute  for  it  denominational 
schools,  to  be  aided  by  the  government  in  pro- 
portion to  the  work  each  school  is  doing.  It  is 
only  the  Presbyterians  and  some  Roman  Catholics 
who  will  offer  any  resistance  to  their  proposal :  and 
their  combined  forces  will  not  suffice  to  make  the 
resistance  either  prolonged  or  vigorous. 

But,  even  were  it  otherv^'ise,  there  would  be  no 


462  AMERICAN    INTRODUCTION, 

danger  in  leaving  the  Irish  people  to  settle  the 
religious  problem  among  themselves.  To  sup- 
pose that  the  temper  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
majority  is  intolerant  is  to  ignore  the  plainest 
facts,  and  to  transfer  the  ideas  of  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries  into  the  nineteenth. 
Has  the  Protestant  minority  of  Belgium  suffered 
from  the  overthrow  of  the  alien  Protestant  gov- 
ernment, whose  existence  made  that  creed  offen- 
sive before  1830  to  the  great  majority  of  the 
Belgian  people  ?  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Prot- 
estants of  Bel2:ium  have  not  a  single  substantial 
grievance.  The  Roman  Catholics  of  Belgium, 
instead  of  sinking  all  other  questions  and  uniting 
for  their  extermination,  have  divided  upon  other 
questions,  and  each  party  seeks  the  Protestant 
vote.  And  so  it  would  be  in  Ireland.  On  every 
question,  notably  on  that  of  education,  the  Roman 
Catholics  would  be  found  to  differ  among  them- 
selves, and  the  old  line  of  cleavage  between 
Orange  and  Green  would  disappear  in  the  new 
line  between  Liberal  and  Conservative.  Mr. 
Parnell  probably  would  be  found  leading  the 
Liberal  **  centre,"  with  Mr.  Davitt  on  the  Radical 
"left ;  "  and  a  Conservative  party,  Roman  Catholic 
even  more  than  Protestant,  would  form  the 
"right"  in  a  National  Irish  Parliament. 

Nor  is  it  any  compliment  to  the  Protestants  of 
Ireland  to  suppose  that  they  are  not  equal  to  the 
task  of  taking  care  of  themselves,  and  of  making 
their  alliance  courted.     The  element  which  gave 


AMERICAN   INTRODUCTION.  453 

to  Great  Britain  such  men  as  Burke,  Canning, 
Castlereagh,  Croker,  Wellington,  Palnierston  and 
Cairnes  may  be  presumed  to  have  some  polit- 
ical capacity.  It  has  inherited  political  experience 
and  wealth  in  excess  of  its  numerical  ratio.  It 
has  had  the  best  opportunities  for  general  and 
hieher  education.  It  has  oriven  Ireland  leaders 
— from  Swift  and  Grattan  to  Davis  and  Parnell — 
whose  names  are  a  national  possession.  It  has 
contributed  its  full  share  of  the  martyrs  for  the 
cause  of  Irish  liberty.  And  when  the  soreness 
attending  the  readjustments  of  our  generation  are 
over,  when  the  agrarian  and  the  political  problems 
are  settled,  the  people  of  Ireland  will  say — as  Mr. 
Parnell  has  said  already  of  the  Protestant  minor- 
ity— "  We  want  them  all ;  we  do  not  mean  to  do 
without  a  man  of  them." 

A  few  Americans  still  cherish  the  delusion  that 
the  character  of  the  Irish  people  is  naturally  law- 
less and  disorderly,  and  that  this  constitutes  one 
of  the  difficulties  of  maintaining  good  government 
there.  On  the  contrary  there  is  no  country  in 
the  world  in  which  crimes  against  life,  person, 
chastity  and  property  are  so  rare.  This  is  ad- 
m.itted  even  by  those  English  statists,  who  are 
unfriendly  to  the  national  aspirations  of  the  Irish 
people.  It  has  been  shown  by  a  comparison  of 
Ireland  with  our  New  England  States — the  most 
orderly  part  of  our  national  Union— by  the  Rev. 
Charles  F.  Thwing.  The  contrary  impression  has 
been    created   by  collecting   carefully  every   re- 


464  AMERICAN  INTRODUCTION. 

port  of  crime  and  outrage  committed  in  Ireland, 
and  sending  it  by  telegraph  to  England  and  to  the 
United  States.  These  despatches  are  compiled 
in  the  office  of  The  Irish  Times,  a  Dublin  paper, 
which  has  nothing  Irish  about  it  except  its  tide. 

Mr.  John  Murdock,  of  Inverness,  a  hearty  friend 
of  the  Irish  people,  attended  the  sessions  of  the 
Peace  Society  in  this  city  when  he  was  visiting 
America.  He  found  it  about  to  adopt  resolutions 
deploring  **  the  prevalence  of  outrage  and  blood- 
shed in  Ireland,"  and  calling  upon  the  Irish  party 
and  Mr.  Parnell  to  put  a  stop  to  this.  Mr.  Mur- 
dock asked  the  Society  to  look  at  the  official  statis- 
tics of  Irish  crime  as  compared  with  those  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  showed  it  that  Ireland  had  about  a 
score  of  murders  to  commit  before  New  Year's 
day — it  was  then  November — if  she  was  to  catch 
up  to  the  Pennsylvania  average.  The  society 
withdrew  its  resolutions  and  adopted  instead  of 
them  an  address  calling  the  attention  of  Queen 
Victoria  to  the  recent  stabbing  and  shooting  of 
women  by  soldiers  and  police  on  the  streets  of 
Irish  towns. 

There  are  very  few  Americans  so  ill-informed 
as  to  repeat  the  stock  argument  that  "  Ireland  is 
wretched  because  it  is  over-populated,  and  no 
English  government  can  find  a  remedy  for  that." 
Ireland,  like  India,  produces  far  more  food  than 
her  people  can  consume.  Like  India,  she  suffers 
from  the  periodical  famines  which  fall  upon  coun- 
tries which  are  producing  nothing  but  food,  and 


AMERICAN  INTRODUCTION.  465 

which  have  nothing  to  fall  back  on  when  the  har- 
vest fails.  By  the  export  of  food  Ireland  pays  not 
only  the  rents  of  her  army  of  absentee-landlords,  but 
buys  nearly  every  article  of  manufacture  that,  is 
used  by  either  rich  or  poor  in  the  island.  Accord- 
ing to  the  testimony  collected  from  experts  by 
Sir  Eardley  Wilmot's  Committee  of  the  House  of 
Commons  in  1885,  almost  every  hat  and  cap, 
boot  and  shoe,  chair  and  table,  knife  and  fork, 
shovel  and  spade  used  in  Ireland  comes  to  her 
from  other  countries.  The  people  are  clad  for 
the  most  part  in  the  products  of  the  cotton  and 
shoddy-mills  of  Northern  England,  although 
plenty  of  good  wool  is  produced  in  Ireland  and 
the  country  has  abundant  supplies  of  both  coal 
and  water-power.  No  iron  is  smelted  in  Ireland, 
although  her  great  peat-beds  could  be  used  for 
that  purpose,  and  Antrim  produces  iron  ore  which 
is  exported  to  America.  And  what  manufactures 
still  remain  are  decaying  visibly.  Ulster  is  losing 
her  manufacture  of  linen,  and  is  exporting  linen 
yarn  to  be  worked  into  fabrics  by  the  German 
weavers,  whose  government  has  given  them  the 
technical  training  that  enables  them  to  outdo  their 
Irish  competitors.  Every  census  shows  a  decrease 
In  the  number  of  the  Irish  people  who  are  living 
by  anything  else  than  farming. 

It  has  been  among  the  especial  services  the 
Irish  National  Leao-ue  of  America  has  rendered 
to  Ireland,  that  from  the  first  it  has  Insisted 
that  the  restoration  of  Irish   manufactures — de- 


466  AMERICAN   INTRODUCTION. 

stroyed  by  the  infamous  Union  of  1801 — is  a 
question  of  equal  importance  with  the  readjust- 
ment of  land-ownership.  To  this  Mr.  Parnell  re- 
sponded in  his  Cork  speech  in  the  spring  of  1886, 
in  which  he  recognized  that  even  a  peasant  pro- 
prietary would  not  make  Ireland  prosperous  in 
the  absence  of  other  occupations  than  farming. 
Indeed  it  is  the  want  of  such  occupations  which 
has  vested  the  Irish  landlords  with  that  excess  of 
power  over  their  tenants,  which  so  many  of  them 
have  abused  shamefully.  It  is  the  want  of  such 
occupations  which  in  the  past  made  farming  in 
Ireland  a  losinof  business  to  freeholders  as  well  as 
tenants,  and  which  ruined  that  great  army  of  land- 
lords, who  were  swept  away  by  the  Encumbered 
Estates  Court  in  1 847-1 857.  And  the  fact  that 
whatever  an  English  Parliament  may  do  to  amend 
the  land  system,  it  will  do  nothing  to  meet  this 
want,  is  one  of  the  many  circumstances  that  make 
Home  Rule  for  Ireland  indispensable. 

In  the  plan  of  Home  Rule  proposed  by  Mr. 
Gladstone  and  accepted  in  substance  by  Mr.  Par- 
nell, the  new  Irish  Parliament  would  be  debarred 
from  dealing  with  this  problem  in  the  usual  way, 
— that  to  which  Americans  are  accustomed. 
That  Parliament  could  lay  no  duty  on  imports  or 
exports,  nor  could  it  collect  any  but  direct  taxes. 
But  there  are  many  roads  to  the  same  goal ;  and 
Dr.  Sullivan,  the  able  and  patriotic  President  of 
Queen's  College,  Cork,  seems  to  have  anticipated 


AMERICAN    INTRODUCTION.  4g7 

this  difficulty  in  his  testimony  before  Sir  Eardley 
Wilmot's  Committee  by  pointing  out  others  for 
the  revival  of  the  manufactures  of  the  country. 
It  is  notable  that  he  does  not  sugfofest  afresh  trial 
of  the  plan  of  voluntary  agreement  to  use  the 
products  of  Irish  manufacture  only.  That  has 
been  tried  repeatedly  in  the  last  fifty  years,  and  it 
always  has  proved  a  failure.  Voluntary  agree- 
ments do  not  furnish  the  degree  of  security  on 
which  a  capitalist  will  risk  his  money.  And  their 
purpose  is  very  easily  defeated  by  the  fraud  which 
labels  English  goods  with  Irish  trade-marks. 
This  is  a  case  in  which  the  judgment  of  the  peo- 
ple as  to  their  own  interest  can  be  enforced  only 
through  their  collective  action,  using  their  govern- 
ment as  an  oroan.  And  as  the  alien  ofovernment 
of  England  will  not  serve  as  the  organ  of  the 
popular  will  in  this  matter,  the  establishment  of  a 
national  government  for  Ireland  must  be  the  first 
step  towards  the  establishment  of  Irish  prosperity. 
What  effect  the  restoration  of  Irish  prosperity 
will  have  on  the  relations  of  the  nation  to  the 
British  Empire  is  a  question  which  must  be  left 
to  the  future.  Ireland's  dependence  has  been  se- 
cured by  her  poverty  9.nd  her  internal  dissensions, 
more  than  by  the  power  of  her  oppressor.  And 
Ireland  united  and  prosperous  will  be  able  to 
choose  for  herself.  Those  who  think  her  discon- 
tent has  had  its  root  in  her  misery  merely,  will 
expect  to  see  her  settle  down  into  a  comfortable 


468  AMERICAN   INTRODUCTION. 

and  untroLiblesome  member  of  the  United  King- 
dom. Those  who  believe  that  its  deepest  root  is 
Irish  nationaHty — the  collective  will  to  be  one 
people  in  distinction  from  all  other  people — must 
look  for  a  different  result.  Time  will  test  these 
two  estimates  and  this  saves  us  the  trouble  of 
prophesying.  Of  one  thing  I  am  sure,  that  in 
the  not  distant  future  the  choice  between  the  two 
destinies  will  lie  absolutely  in  the  hands  of  the 
Irish  people.  Not  only  the  civil  and  criminal  law 
of  the  island  will  have  that  "Irish  source,"  which 
Mr.  Gladstone  says  it  must  have  if  the  people  are 
to  give  it  a  hearty  acquiescence ;  but  the  consti- 
tutional law  which  defines  the  relations  of  the 
country  to  England  and  the  re^st  of  the  world 
will  have  an  "Irish  source"  also,  and  will  be  of 
such  a  character  as  the  Irish  people  may  elect  to 
give  it.  It  is  remarkable  that  so  keen  a  logician 
as  Mr.  Gladstone  should  not  have  seen  this  in- 
ference from  his  own  premise  as  to  the  proper 
source  of  law.  If  he  should  be  spared  long 
enough  to  complete  his  education  in  the  matter 
of  justice  to  Ireland,  he  may  be  convinced  that 
something  very  different  from  his  Home  Rule  Bill 
is  what  his  own  reasoning  would  suggest  for  that 
misgoverned  and  unhappy  country. 

ROBERT  ELLIS  THOMPSON. 

University  of  Pennsylvania, 
January,   1887. 


ROBERT   M    McWADE 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE    MOVEMENT   IN    AMERICA. 

TOWARDS  the  close  of  the  year  1879,  when 
Ireland  was  in  the  midst  of  the  dark  events 
which  clustered  so  thickly  around  that  memorable 
period  in  her  history,  the  Irish  leader,  Charles 
Stewart  Parnell,  determined  to  appeal  on  behalf 
of  his  suffering  country,  not  merely  to  the  Irish 
at  home,  but  to  the  Irish  abroad,  especially  to 
those  exiles  and  their  descendants  who  had  set- 
tled in  America.  He  placed  himself  in  communi- 
cation with  leading  Irish-American  citizens,  and 
after  a  lengthy  correspondence  finally  determined, 
in  1880,  to  visit  this  country.  The  establishment 
of  the  Irish  National  League  of  the  United  States 
was  one  of  the  chief  and  most  important  results 
of  that  visit.  Immediately  after  his  arrival,  ac- 
companied by  John  Dillon,  he  delivered  addresses 
in  many  of  the  large  cities  of  the  Union,  and, 
wherever  they  went,  his  cool  argumentative  and 
dispassionate  discourses  gained  hosts  of  influ- 
ential American  friends,  who  contributed  freely 
and  liberally  to  the  Irish  cause.  Notable  among 
the  first  contributions  he  received  at  this  time, 

471 


472  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

and  which  he  forwarded  at  once  to  Treasurer 
Egan  in  Ireland,  was  a  gift  of  ^1,000  from  Mr. 
George  W.  Childs,  of  Philadelphia,  who,  with  his 
friend,  Mr.  A.  J.  Drexel,  the  head  of  the  widely 
known  banking  firm  of  Drexel  81  Co.,  has  since 
then  made  orenerous  donations  to  the  Irish 
National  League  and  Irish  Parliamentary  Funds. 

Before  leaving  New  York  for  his  home  in  Ire- 
land Mr.  Parnell  held  a  conference  with  several 
prominent  men  from  various  parts  of  the  Union. 
The  result  of  their  deliberations  was  a  conference, 
lasting  two  days,  which  was  held  in  Trenor  Hall, 
New  York,  on  May  i8th  and  19th,  1880,  at  which 
the  Hon.  Patrick  A.  Collins,  of  Boston,  presided. 
Appropriate  resolutions  were  there  drawn  up  and 
agreed  to,  a  provisional  constitution  adopted  and 
the  following  elected  as  national  officers:  J.  J. 
McCafiferty,  President;  Rev.  Lawrence  Walsh, 
Treasurer  ;  Michael  Davitt,  Secretary. 

Almost  immediately  after  the  meeting  the  presi- 
dent resigned,  and  the  patriot,  Michael  Davitt, 
went  home  to  Ireland  to  face  threatened  impris- 
onment. The  conduct  of  the  entire  executive 
business  of  the  Land  League  was  thus  thrown 
upon  Father  Walsh. 

Feeling  the  necessity  for  prompt  and  energetic 
work,  that  patriot  priest  used  every  exertion  to 
further  the  success  of  the  movement.  Branches 
were  formed  in  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Boston, 
Chicago,  and  other  great  cities  and  centres  of 


THE   GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  473 

population,  and  contributions  to  the  League  funds 
were  transmitted   to   Ireland   throuo^h  the  Irish 

o 

World,  Boston  Pilot,  and  other  journals,  as  well 
as  througrh  the  reofular  treasurer. 

Father  Walsh  found,  after  laboring  incessantly 
and  unwearyingly  for  several  months,  that  more 
concerted  action  and  a  more  effective  organization 
were  absolutely  necessary.  Hence,  he  issued  a 
call  to  the  delegates  of  the  various  branches  to 
meet  in  convention  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  on  the  12th 
and  13th  of  January,  1881. 

This  was  really  the  first  Land  League  Con- 
vention held  in  the  United  States  of  America. 
Though  in  point  of  numbers  its  roll-call  of  dele- 
gates was  not  very  large,  yet  it  is  safe  to  say  that 
there  never  before  assembled  in  this  country  a 
more  intelligent,  patriotic  or  representative  body 
of  men  to  take  counsel  together  on  the  welfare 
of  Ireland.  A  series  of  resolutions  expressive  of 
the  objects  of,  as  well  as  the  necessity  for,  the  ex- 
istence of  the  Land  League  was  adopted,  the 
bonds  of  unity  and  fraternity  among  the  friends 
of  Ireland  throughout  this  country  were  cemented 
and  strenorthened,  a  Central  Council  was  chosen, 
and  the  followino-  national  officers  were  elected : 
Hon.  Patrick  A.  Collins,  Boston,  Mass.,  Presi- 
dent; Rev.  Lawrence  Walsh,  Waterbury,  Conn., 
Treasurer;  Thomas  Fladey,  Esq.,  Boston,  Mass., 
Secretary. 

Those  three  officers  at  once  instituted  a  com- 


474  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

plete  system  of  organized  activity  and  effective 
energy,  and  raised  the  Land  League  In  America 
into  a  powerful  organization,  containing  nearly 
one  thousand  branches  and  contributing  In  one 
year  about  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  to 
Treasurer  Egan,  then  in  Ireland.  In  the  light  of 
subsequent  events,  the  following  address,  Issued 
on  February  7,  1881,  by  President  Collins  to 
the  members  of  the  League  and  the  American 
public,  possesses  conside/able  Interest,  aside  from 
Its  historical  value,  as  being  the  first  declaration 
made  by  the  first  National  President  of  the 
League : 

"  Irish  National  Land  League  of  the  United 
States.  Central  Office,  198  Washington 
Street,  Boston,  Mass., 

"  To  the  Members  of  the  League  mid  the  A7nerican 
Public :  It  Is  but  a  few  months  since  the  people 
of  Ireland  ended  a  struggle  for  existence  on  the 
soil  of  their  fathers.  They  fought  Death  itself, 
in  the  gaunt  form  of  famine,  and  by  the  great 
charity  of  mankind  were  enabled  to  conquer  It. 
To  the  wail  of  Irish  distress  America  responded 
with  noble  generosity. 

"But  had  not  the  Land  League  in  Ireland  ex-> 
isted,  with  its  forecast  and  warning  of  the  famine, 
its  timely  appeal,  wise  organization,  and  machinery 
for  distribution.  In  the  judgment  of  the  best  In- 
formed, death  by  starvation  would  have  been  the 


THE  GREAT  IRISH  STRUGGLE.  477 

fate  of  vast  numbers  of  the  people.  The  scenes 
of  1846-7-8  were  averted  by  prescience  and 
orofanization. 

"  The  Land  League  in  Ireland  continues  its  ex- 
istence for  the  purpose  of  removing  the  cause  of 
famine — landlord  robbery  of  the  people ;  for  the 
purpose  of  compelling  such  changes  in  the  law 
as  will  make  every  Irish  peasant  the  owner  of  the 
soil  he  cultivates. 

"In  their  movements  to  attain  this  grand  re- 
sult— a  result  attained  by  the  people  of  almost 
every  other  country  in  Europe — the  Irish  have  the 
sympathy  of  every  free  people  on  the  planet. 

"  But  they  need  more.  The  Ireland  we  speak 
of  has  been  richly  dowered  by  nature,  but  cruelly 
robbed  by  man.  By  fire,  sword,  law  and  famine 
the  island  has  been  swept  and  scourged  for  seven 
centuries  in  an  effort  for  the  conquest  of  the  land 
and  the  extermination  of  the  people.  Manu- 
factures have  been  depressed,  commerce  has  been 
swept  from  the  ocean ;  agriculture  is  the  chief 
industry  of  the  people. 

"The  area  of  Ireland  is  20,327,764  acres; 
4,643,986  acres  are  in  bog,  waste  and  water. 
From  the  15,683,778  acres  of  arable  land  and 
some  5,000,000  people  living  on  it,  the  landlords 
claim  the  right  to  wring  ^90,000,000  a  year  in 
rents — half  of  which  to  spend  abroad — and  the 
Government  ^60,000,000  more  in  local  and  impe- 
rial taxes ! 

28 


478  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

"  In  so-called  '  good  years '  Ireland  staggers 
under  this  enormous  burden;  in  'bad  years'  she 
starves  or  begs. 

"Says  the  London  Times:  'Property  is  there 
ruled  with  savage  and  tyrannical  sway.  Land- 
lords exercise  their  rights  with  a  hand  of  iron, 
and  disregard  their  duties  with  a  forehead  of 
brass.' 

"  Feudal  law,  with  a  mountain  of  abuses  piled 
upon  it,  is  mercilessly  administered  by  a  landlord 
class  whose  titles  rest  upon  confiscation,  and  who 
are  sustained  in  their  excesses  and  exactions  by 
the  whole  power  of  the  Government. 

"  Nearly  80  per  cent,  of  the  cultivators  are  ten- 
ants at  the  landlords'  will.  But  3  per  cent,  are 
owners  in  fee. 

"  Rent  is  based,  not  upon  the  humane,  economic 
principle  that  the  soil  is  first  to  repay  the  tiller 
for  his  toil  and  outlay,  but  upon  a  calculation  of 
what  can  be  squeezed  out  of  the  ragged,  wretched 
tenant,  and  out  of  his  friends  abroad. 

"  Not  less  than  ^3,000,000  annually,  during  the 
past  thirty  years,  have  been  forwarded  to  the 
peasantry  of  Ireland  by  their  friends  and  kindred 
in  other  lands  !  Not  less  than  two-thirds  of  this 
goes  from  the  United  States.  Hence  this  becomes 
an  American  economic  question. 

"With  such  a  merciless  system  in  vogue,  what 
wonder  is  it  that  the  people  are  described  as  '  the 
worst  housed,  the  worst  fed  and  the  worst  clad  of 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  479 

any  in  the  world?'  Two  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  thousand  families  live  in  cabins  of  one  room 
each.  In  '  good  years '  they  exist.  In  *  bad  years ' 
they  starve,  unless  succored  by  foreign  charity. 

"  Nine-tenths  of  the  landlord  titles  to  the  soil 
of  Ireland  rest  upon  confiscation.  Morally, 
against  the  rights  of  the  true  owners,  no  statute 
of  limitations  runs.  Legally,  what  the  Crown  or 
Parliament  gave  it  can  take  away. 

"  If  the  Irish  people  had  the  power  to  rid  them- 
selves at  once  of  Crown  and  landlords,  they  would 
use  it,  and  the  moral  sense  of  mankind  would 
justify  and  applaud  it. 

"  But  in  the  Land  League  programme  there  is 
no  sueofestion  of  resort  to  armed  force.  Irish 
discontent  and  agitation  are  to  run  their  course 
within  the  limits  of  the  British  law  and  Constitu- 
tion. 

"To  lift  the  people  of  the  island  up  from  mis- 
ery, to  educate  them  into  a  full  realization  of  their 
condition,  rights  and  power,  to  organize  them  in 
solid  mass  against  the  authors  of  their  wrongs,  to 
force  by  lawful  means  such  changes  in  the  land 
laws  as  will  make  the  people  the  owners  of  the 
soil  they  till — this  is  the  mission  of  the  Land 
League  in  Ireland. 

"The  effort  has  already  borne  fruit.  Rents 
have  been  reduced,  evictions  have  diminished,  the 
people  have  '  stuck  to  their  holdings.'  The  ques- 
tion is  on  the  fair  road  to  settlement. 


480  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

"  England  yields  only  to  force.  During  the 
past  year  the  force  of  the  Irish  people  has  been 
wisely,  ingeniously,  admirably  exerted.  Hence, 
the  concession  in  the  Queen's  speech  of  Home 
Rule  and  the  rights  of  the  tenant  in  the  land. 
The  logical  extension  of  these  principles  lifts 
Ireland  up  to  a  plane  of  prosperity. 

"  In  dealing  with  Irish  grievance,  however, 
England  deals  a  blow  before  she  applies  the  rem- 
edy.    Coercion  precedes  concession. 

"  Ireland  is  about  to  be  subjected  to  a  tension 
unwonted  even  for  her.  It  will  require  the  exer- 
cise of  all  the  leaders'  skill  and  the  marvellous 
patience  of  the  people  to  avert  an  explosion. 

"That  they  will  succeed,  their  conduct  during 
the  past  year  is  an  earnest  and  a  guaranty. 

"  In  this  crisis,  and  in  their  supreme  effort  to 
rid  themselves  of  the  incubus  of  landlordism,  the 
people  of  Ireland  need  the  aid  of  their  friends  in 
other  lands. 

"Against  them  are  the  prejudices  of  ages,  the 
power  of  a  dominant  and  arrogant  class,  the  very 
wealth  wrung  from  their  toil  and  misery — the 
Crown,  the  aristocracy,  a  subsidized  press.  On 
their  side  are  justice,  numbers,  patriotism  and  the 
light  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

"The  Land  Leaofue  in  the  United  States  is  an 
organization  auxiliary  to  that  in  Ireland.  It  has 
no  part  in  shaping  the  policy  of  the  Irish  body. 
Its  functions  are  to  make  the  case  of  Ireland  fully 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  481 

understood  in  America,  so  that  the  public  opinion 
of  this  republic  shall  be  intelligently  and  forcibly 
expressed  on  the  side  of  justice  and  liberty  in 
Ireland ;  and  to  aid,  by  our  sympathy  and  means, 
the  splendid  march  of  the  Irish  people  on  to  jus- 
tice, prosperity  and  self-government. 

"  In  this  work  we  ask  the  co-operation  of  all 
just  men  of  whatever  color,  race,  creed  or  condi- 
tion. Combine  everywhere  in  branches  of  the 
League.'  Report  to  us,  so  that  in  the  mass  we 
shall  be  united.  Let  us  have  before  St.  Patrick's 
Day,  such  an  organization  in  existence  as  the  Irish 
race  has  never  seen — an  organization  that  can 
create  Ireland's  opportunity,  and  be  ready  to  take 
advantage  of  England's  difficulty. 

"  P.  A.  Collins,  Presidents 

Hon.  Patrick  A.  Collins,  the  writer  of  that 
admirable  document,  in  addition  to  being  the  first 
president  of  the  national  organization,  has  the 
proud  honor  of  being  the  first  president  of  the 
first  branch  of  the  Land  League  that  was  formed 
in  America.  At  its  organization  in  Faneuil  Hall, 
Boston,  in  the  presence  of  the  Hon.  John  Dillon, 
M.P.,  whose  fervid  eloquence  aroused  the  crowded 
meeting  "to  the  highest  pitch  of  enthusiasm,  was 
sown  the  seed  which  fructified  a  few  months 
later  in  the  establishment  of  many  others,  and 
aided  largely  in  the  formation  of  the  Central 
Council. 


482  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Mr.  Collins  was  born  near  Fermoy,  in  the 
County  Cork,  Ireland,  on  March  12,  1844.  Four 
years  later  we  find  him  in  this  country  in  Chelsea, 
Mass.,  where  he  attended  the  public  schools  until 
he  was  twelve  years  of  age.  For  three  years  sub- 
sequently he  worked  on  a  farm,  in  the  coal  mines, 
and  in  a  grindstone  mill  in  Ohio.  In  his  sixteenth 
year  he  came  to  Boston,  where  he  learned  the 
upholstering  trade,  at  which  he  worked  for  seven 
years  in  tlie  successive  positions  of  apprentice, 
journeyman  and  foreman,  holding  the  last  position 
when  he  was  only  nineteen  years  old.  For  four 
years  he  read  law  in  a  Boston  office,  and  with  the 
money  he  had  saved  was  able  to  finish  his  studies 
at  the  Harvard  Law  School.  He  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  April,  1871,  and  has  practised  in  Boston 
since  that  date. 

Loving  his  native  land,  with  whose  history  and 
traditions  his  mind  was  stored,  with  the  passionate 
fervor  of  the  Irish-American  he  threw  himself  at 
an  early  age  into  the  Irish  movement  in  this  coun- 
try and  devoted  his  best  energies  to  organize  and 
build  up  a  society  or  association  of  clubs  that 
would  aid  in  Ireland's  emancipation.  He  became 
an  active  member  of  the  Fenian  Brotherhood,  and 
was  on  its  rolls  from  1862  until  1870.  He  served 
as  Secretary  of  the  Philadelphia  Convention  and 
as  Chairman  of  a  subsequent  one,  and  for  upwards 
of  nine  months  in  1865  ""^'^^  recognized  every- 
where  as    one  of  the    most  able  and  energetic 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  483 

organizers  in  that  powerful  confederation  of  clubs 
or  circles.  The  trusted  friend  and  confidant  of 
the  lamented  Fenian  chieftain,  John  O'Mahony,  he 
gained  and  has  always  retained  the  esteem  and 
confidence  of  the  Irish  Nationalists  in  this  country 
as  well  as  "  at  home." 

From  his  earliest  years  he  took  a  deep  interest 
in  the  affairs  of  his  adopted  country,  and  connect- 
ing himself  with  the  Democratic  party,  he  became 
one  of  its  most  ardent  supporters.  In  1868  and 
1869  he  was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts 
House  of  Representatives  and  of  the  Massachu- 
setts State  Senate  in  1870  and  1871.  He  was 
dele^ate-at-larofe  to  the  Democratic  National 
Conventions  of  1876  and  1880,  and  declined  that 
honor  in  1884.  His  remarkable  executive  abili- 
,  ties  were  admirably  displayed  in  1873  and  1874 
during  his  Chairmanship  of  the  Boston  Demo- 
cratic City  Committee,  and  in  1884,  1S85,  and 
1886,  whilst  he  was  Chairman  of  the  Democratic 
State  Committee  of  Massachusetts.  After  serv- 
ing two  terms  in  Congress  as  a  representative  of 
the  Fourth  Massachusetts  district,  he  retired  early 
in  1886,  publicly  declining  further  political  honors. 
In  the  same  year  he  was  re-elected  to  Congress. 
Of  all  the  able  officers  of  the  national  organi- 
zation few  are  better  known  than  Thomas  Flat- 
ley,  Esq.,  the  genial  secretary,  whose  untiring 
industry  and  earnest  patriotic  labors  enabled  Pres- 
ident Collins  to  perfect  his  plans  of  forming  the 


484  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

various  branches  of  the  Land  League  into  one 
grand  cohesive  organization.  A  tinge  of  romance 
colors  his  early  Hfe  "  in  the  old  land."  About 
diirty-five  years  ago  he  was  born  in  Claremorris, 
a  pretty  little  town  in  the  west  of  Ireland.  Grad- 
uating from  a  private  classical  school,  he  matricu- 
lated in  the  Queen's  College,  Galway.  While 
here  he  heard  echoes  of  the  agitation  that  pre- 
ceded the  intended  insurrection  and  left  his  alma 
mater  to  take  part  in  "  the  rising." 

Being  very  popular  in  his  native  place  he  soon 
raised  a  battalion  of  gallant  young  patriots,  re- 
ceived a  commission,  and  mapped  out  an  active 
plan  of  campaign  in  that  section  of  the  country. 
Tom's  troops  were  well  drilled,  but  badly  provided 
with  such  "  fighting  materials  "■  as  arms  and  ac- 
coutrements ;  so  he  promptly  devised  a  plan  to  , 
supply  the  deficiency.  About  twenty  or  thirty  of 
"  the  boys  "  were  to  **  get  up  a  sham  fight "  in  the 
square  of  the  town,  and  while  the  entire  police 
force  would  be  engaged  in  trying  to  quell  the  dis- 
turbance and  makinor  arrests  the  remainder  of  the 
battalion  were  to  capture  the  police  arsenal.  As 
soon  as  this  was  accomplished,  with  Tom  at  their 
head,  they  were  in  turn  to  attack  the  police,  and 
after  taking  them  prisoners  to  offer  them  the 
alternative  of  being  court-martialled  or  donning 
the  ofreen  cockade  and  swearing  alleo^iance  to  the 
Irish  Republic. 

Fortunately  for  Ireland,  on  the  eve  of  the  ap 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  485 

♦ 

pointed  day,  March  5,  1867,  the  order  for  "the 
rising"  was  countermanded.  A  sUght  skirmish, 
however,  took  place  near  DubHn.  The  oiher 
outbreak,  a  mihtary  speck  on  the  horizon,  was  in 
Kerry,  where  brave  Captain  O'Connor,  on  learn- 
ing the  true  state  of  affairs,  disbanded  his  men  in 
the  mountains.  The  English  commander  sent 
flying  columns  through  the  provinces  with  instruc- 
tions to  take  the  "  centres "  and  suspects  pris- 
oners. Most  of  them,  warned  of  the  fate  that  was 
intended  for  them,  fled  from  Ireland  to  this  coun- 
try, and  our  friend,  ex-Secretary  Flatley,  was  one 
of  their  number. 

Immediately  after  his  arrival  he  engaged  in 
mercantile  pursuits,  but  feeling  that  he  needed  a 
more  thorough  equipment  for  the  battle  of  life, 
he  entered  Georgetown  College  in  1868.  In 
course  of  time  he  received  his  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Arts  and  a  diploma  after  passing  a  most  suc- 
cessful examination  in  the  law  department.  He 
subsequently  became  a  member  of  the  college 
faculty,  and  though  something  of  a  martinet  in 
discipline,  he  never  lost  the  suave  temper,  riant 
humor,  and  irrepressible  buoyancy  that  marked 
his  earlier  days.  Shortly  after  his  admission  to 
the  bar  he  associated  in  practice  with  his  brother, 
P.  J.  Flatley,  Esq.  In  politics  he  is  a  pronounced 
Democrat.  Almost  twelve  months  ago  he  was 
appointed  Deputy  Collector  of  the  Port  of  Boston, 
a  position  which  he  still  holds. 


486  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

The  work  of  stirring  up  the  people  to  do  their 
whole  duty  by  the  home  leaders  of  the  move- 
ment, received  a  fresh  impetus  in  October,  iSBi, 
when  the  cable  flashed  the  news  across  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  of  the  determination  of  William 
Ewart  Gladstone's  government  to  put  down  the 
Irish  National  League  by  force.  The  first  step 
in  that  direction  was  sufficient  of  itself  to  set 
aflame  the  hearts  of  Irishmen  all  over  the  civil- 
ized world.  Mr.  Parnell,  the  President  of  the 
League,  was  arrested  on  the  13th  of  that  month, 
and  within  two  days  afterwards  Thomas  Sexton, 
John  Dillon,  J.  J.  O'Kelly,  William  O'Brien,  and 
others  were  imprisoned  as  "  suspects."  The 
Executive  of  the  League  now  felt  the  necessity  to 
take  some  strong  steps  to  thwart  the  Irish  land- 
lords, and  to  show  the  British  Government  by 
absolute  proofs  that  the  Irish  people  would  not 
tamely  submit  to  this  unjustifiable  incarceration  of 
their  representatives.  As  a  last  resource  the 
Irish  Executive  called  on  the  tenants  to  "  pay  no 
rent."  They  did  so  in  the  following  document, 
which,  as  will  be  seen  by  its  date,  was  issued  on 
the  1 8th  of  October,  1881.  Many  enemies  of 
the  Home  Rule  movement,  in  America  and  else- 
where, in  their  attempts  to  justify  the  arrest  of 
Mr.  Parnell,  assert  that  '*  he  was  imprisoned 
because  he  issued  the  No-Rent  Manifesto."  The 
exact  converse  is  the  truth.  The  manifesto  was 
issued  because  the  leaders  of  the  national  organic 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  487 

zation  were  deprived  of  their  liberty.  As  a  his- 
toric interest  is  attached  to  the  .document,  and,  as 
its  alleged  contents  have  been  the  cause  of,  at 
times,  bitter  contention,  I  append  it,  verbatim,  as 
it  was  issued  from  the  patriots'  prison : 

*'  To  the  Irish  People. 

"  Fellow  Countrymen  :  The  hour  has  come  to 
test  whether  the  great  organization,  built  up 
during  years  of  patient  labor  and  sacrifice,  and 
consecrated  by  the  allegiance  of  the  whole  Irish 
race  the  world  over,  is  to  disappear  at  the  sum- 
mons oi  a  brutal  tyranny.  The  crisis  with  which 
we  are  face  to  face  is  not  of  our  making.  It  has 
been  deliberately  forced  upon  the  country,  while 
the  Land  Act  is,  as  yet,  untested,  in  order  to  strike 
down  the  only  power  which  might  have  extorted 
any  solid  benefits  for  the  tenant-farmers  of  Ireland 
from  that  Act,  and  to  leave  them  once  more  help- 
lessly at  the  mercy  of  a  law  invented  to  save 
landlordism  and  administered  by  landlord  minions. 

"The  Executive  of  the  Irish  National  Land 
League,  acting  in  the  spirit  of  the  resolutions  of 
the  National  Convention — the  most  freely  elected 
body  ever  assembled  in  Ireland — was  advancing 
steadily  in  the  work  of  testing  how  far  the  admin- 
istration of  the  Land  Act  mio-ht  be  trusted  to 
eradicate  from  the  rents  of  the  Irish  tenant- 
farmers  the  entire  value  of  their  own  improve- 
ments, and  to  reduce  these  rents  to  such  a  figure 


488  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

as  should  forever  place  our  country  beyond  the 
peril  of  periodical  famine.  At  the  same  time  they 
took  measures  to  secure,  in  the  event  of  the  Land 
Act  proving  to  be  a  mere  paltry  mitigation  of  the 
horrors  of  landlordism  in  order  to  fasten  it  the 
more  securely  on  the  necks  of  the  people,  that 
the  tenant-farmers  should  not  be  delivered  blind- 
folded into  the  hands  oi^  hostile  law  courts,  but 
should  be  able  to  fall  back  upon  the  magnificent 
organization  which  was  crushing  landlordism  out 
of  existence  when  Mr.  Gladstone  stepped  in  to 
its  rescue.  In  either  event  the  Irish  tenant-far- 
mers would  have  been  in  a  position  to  exact 
the  uttermost  farthing  of  their  just  demand. 

"  It  was  this  attitude  of  perfect  self-command — • 
impregnable  while  there  remained  a  shadow  of 
respect  for  law,  and  supported  -with  unparalleled 
enthusiasm  by  the  whole  Irish  race — that  moved 
the  rage  of  the  disappointed  English  Minister. 
Upon  the  monstrous  pretext  that  the  National 
Land  League  was  forcing  upon  the  Irish  tenant- 
farmers  an  organization  which  made  them  all- 
powerful,  and  was  keeping  them,  by  intimidation, 
from  embracing  an  Act  which  offered  them  noth- 
ing except  helplessness  and  uncertainty,  the 
English  Government  has  cast  to  the  winds  every 
shred  of  law  and  justice,  and  has  plunged  into  an 
open  reign  of  terror,  in  order  to  destroy  by  the 
foulest  means  an  organization  which  was  confess- 
edly too  strong  for  it  within  the  limits  of  its  own 
English  constitution. 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  489 

"  Blow  after  blow  has  been  struck  at  the  Land 
League,  in  the  mere  wantonness  of  brute  force. 
In  the  face  of  provocation  which  has  turned  men's 
blood  to  flame,  the  Executive  of  the  Land  League 
adhered  calmly  and  steadily  to  the  course  traced 
out  for  them  by  the  National  Convention.  Test 
cases  of  a  varied  and  searching  character  were, 
with  great  labor,  put  in  train  for  adjudication  in 
the  Land  Courts.  Even  the  arrest  of  our  Presi- 
dent, Mr.  Charles  Stewart  Parnell,  and  the  excited 
state  of  popular  feeling  which  it  evoked,  did  not 
induce  the  executive  to  swerve  in  the  slig-htest 
from  that  course ;  for  Mr.  Parnell's  arrest  might 
have  been  accounted  for  by  motives  of  personal 
malice,  and  his  removal  did  not  altogether  derange 
the  machinery  for  the  preparation  of  the  test 
cases  which  he  has  been  at  much  pains  to  per- 
fect. But  the  events  which  have  since  occurred — 
the  seizure,  or  attempted  seizure,  of  almost  all  the 
members  of  the  executive  and  of  the  chief  officials 
of  the  League,  upon  wild  and  preposterous  pre- 
tences, and  the  violent  suppression  of  free  speech 
— put  it  beyond  any  possibility  of  doubt  that  the 
English  Government — unable  to  declare  the  Land 
Leacfue  an  illegal  association,  defeated  in  the 
attempt  to  break  its  unity,  and  afraid  to  abide  the 
result  of  test  cases,  watched  over  by  a  powerful 
popular  organization — has  deliberately  resolved 
to'  destroy  the  whole  machinery  of  the  Central 
League,  with   a  view   to   rendering  an   experi- 


490  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

mental  trial  of  the  Act  impossible,  and  forcing  it 
upon  the  Irish  tenant-farmers  on  the  Government's 
own  terms. 

"The  brutal  and  arbitrary  dispersion  of  the 
Central  Executive  has  so  far  succeeded  that  we 
are  obliged  to  announce  to  our  countrymen  that 
we  no  longer  possess  the  machinery  for  ade- 
quately presenting  the  test  cases  in  court  accord- 
ing to  the  policy  prescribed  by  the  National  Con- 
vention. Mr.  Gladstone  has,  by  a  series  of 
furious  and  wanton  acts  of  despotism,  driven  the 
Irish  farmers  to  choose  between  their  own  organ- 
ization and  the  mercy  of  his  lawyers — between 
the  power  which  has  reduced  landlordism  to 
almost  its  last  gasp  and  the  power  which  strives 
with  all  the  ferocity  of  despotism  to  restore  the 
detestable  ascendency  from  which  the  Land 
League  has  delivered  the  Irish  people. 

"One  constitutional  weapon  alone  now  remains 
in  the  hands  of  the  Irish  National  League.  It  is 
the  strongest,  the  swiftest,  the  most  irresistible  of 
all.  We  hesitated  to  advise  our  fellow-country- 
men to  employ  it  until  the  savage  lawlessness  of 
the  English  Government  provoked  a  crisis  in 
which  we  must  either  consent  to  see  the  Irish 
tenant-farmers  disarmed  of  their  orofanization  and 
laid  once  more  prostrate  at  the  feet  of  the  land- 
lords, and  every  murmur  of  Irish  public  opinion 
suppressed  with  an  armed  hand,  or  appeal  to  our 
countrymen  to  at  once  resort  to  the  only  means 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  491 

now  left  In  their  hands  of  bringing  this  false  and 
brutal  Government  to  its  senses. 

"  Fellow-countrymen,  the  hour  to  try  your  souls 
and  redeem  your  pledges  has  arrived.  The 
Executive  of  the  National  Land  League,  forced 
to  abandon  the  policy  of  testing  the  Land  Act, 
feels  bound  to  advise  the  tenant-farmers  of  Ire- 
land from  this  forth  to  pay  no  rent  under  any  cir- 
cumstances to  their  landlords  until  the  Govern- 
ment relinquishes  the  existing  system  of  terrorism 
and  restores  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  peo- 
ple. Do  not  be  daunted  by  the  removal  of  your 
leaders.  Your  fathers  abolished  tithes  by  the 
same  method  widiout  any  leaders  at  all,  and  with 
scarcely  a  shadow  of  the  magnificent  organization 
that  covers  every  portion  of  Ireland  to-day. 

"  Do  not  suffer  yourselves  to  be  intimidated  by 
threats  of  military  violence.  It  is  as  lawful  to 
refuse  to  pay  rents  as  it  Is  to  receive  them. 
Against  the  passive  resistance  of  an  entire  popu- 
lation, military  power  has  no  weapons.  Do  not 
be  wheedled  Into  compromise  of  any  sort  by  the 
dread  of  eviction.  If  you  only  act  together  in  the 
spirit  to  which  In  the  last  two  years  you  have 
countless  times  solemnly  pledged  your  vows,  they 
can  no  more  evict  a  whole  nation  than  they  can 
imprison  them.  The  funds  of  the  National  Land 
League  will  be  poured  out  unstintedly  for  the 
support  of  all  who  may  endure  eviction  in  the 
course  of  the  struQfale.     Our  exiled  brothers  in 


492  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

America  may  be  relied  upon  to  contribute,  if 
necessary,  as  many  millions  of  money  as  they  have 
contributed  thousands,  to  starve  out  landlordism 
and  bring  English  tyranny  to  its  knees.  You 
have  only  to  show  that  you  are  not  unworthy  of 
their  boundless  sacrifices  in  your  cause.  No 
power  on  earth  except  faint-heartedness  on  our 
own  part  can  defeat  you.  Landlordism  is  already 
staggering  under  the  blows  which  you  have  dealt 
it,  amidst  the  applause  of  the  world. 

"One  more  crowning  struggle  for  your  land, 
your  homes,  your  lives — a  struggle  in  which  you 
have  all  the  memories  of  your  race,  all  the  hopes 
of  your  children,  all  the  sacrifices  of  your  impris- 
oned brothers,  all  your  cravings  for  rent-enfran- 
chised land,  for  happy  homes  and  national  freedom, 
to  inspire  you — one  more  heroic  effort  to  destroy 
landlordism  at  the  very  source  and  fountain  of  its 
existence — and  the  system  which  was,  and  is,  the 
curse  of  your  race  and  of  your  existence,  will 
have  disappeared  for  ever.  The  world  is  watch- 
ing to  see  whether  all  your  splendid  hopes  and 
noble  courage  will  crum^ble  away  at  the  first  threat 
of  a  cowardly  tyranny.  You  have  to  choose 
between  throwing  yourself  upon  the  mercy  of 
England  and  taking  your  stand  by  the  organiza- 
tion which  has  once  before  proved  too  strong  for 
English  despotism ;  you  have  to  choose  between 
all-powerful  unity  and  impotent  disorganization  ; 
between  the  land  for  the  landlords  and  the  land 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  493 

for  the  people !  We  cannot  doubt  your  choice. 
Every  tenant-farmer  of  Ireland  is  to-day  the 
standard-bearer  of  the  flag  unfurled  at  Irishtown, 
and  can  bear  it  to  a  glorious  victory. 

"  Stand  together  in  the  face  of  the  brutal  and 
cowardly  enemies  of  your  race ;  pay  no  rents 
under  any  pretext ;  stand  passively,  firmly,  fear- 
lessly by  while  the  armies  of  England  may  be  en- 
gaged in  their  hopeless  struggle  against  a  spirit 
which  their  weapons  cannot  touch;  act  for  your- 
selves if  you  are  deprived  of  the  counsels  of  those 
who  have  shown  you  how  to  act ;  no  power  of 
legalized  violence  can  extort  one  penny  from 
your  purses  against  your  will ;  if  you  are  evicted, 
you  will  not  suffer ;  the  landlord  who  evicts  you 
will  be  a  ruined  pauper,  and  the  Government 
which  supports  him  with  its  bayonets  will  learn  in 
a  single  winter  how  powerless  is  armed  force 
against  the  will  of  a  united,  determined  and  self- 
reliant  nation. 

"  Signed :  Charles  S.  Parnell,  President,  Kil- 
mainliam  Jail;  A.  J.  Kettle,  Honorary  Secretary, 
Kilmainham  Jail;  Michael  Davitt,  Honorary 
Secretary,  Portland  Prison;  Thomas  Brennan, 
Honorary  Secretary,  Kilmainham  Jail;  John  Dil- 
lon, Head  Organizer,  Kilmainham  Jail ;  Patrick 
Egan,  Treasurer,  Paris. 

*'\%th  October,  1881." 

The  manly  and  determined  spirit  with  which 

29 


494  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

the  Irish  nation  took  hold  of  their  leaders'  advice 
and  followed  it  up  in  almost  every  section  of  "  the 
old  land,"  aroused  the  enthusiasm  of  their  fellow- 
countrymen  in  America.  Meetings  were  held  in 
almost  every  city  and  town  in  the  United  States, 
and  preparations  were  made  to  raise  whatever 
funds  might  be  thought  necessary  to  aid  "the 
men  in  the  gap."  Every  one  recognized  the  fact 
that  a  crisis  had  now  arisen  in  Irish  affairs  which 
demanded  liberal,  square-toed  action  on  their  part, 
if  the  tenant-farmers  were  to  be  supported  in  the 
stand  they  had  taken.  The  attempt  of  the  Glad- 
stone Government  to  wipe  out  the  Irish  National 
Land  League  must  be  resented,  at  the  same 
time,  in  language  the  import  of  which  must  be 
unmistakable. 

Patrick  Ford,  P.  A.  Collins  and  John  Boyle 
O'Reilly,  on  behalf  of  the  American  Irish,  and  T. 
P.  O'Connor,  T.  M.  Healy  and  Rev.  Eugene 
Sheehy,  representatives  from  Ireland,  united  in  a 
public  appeal  to  the  branches  of  the  Irish  National 
League,  and  to  all  organizations  in  America 
friendly  to  the  Irish  cause  to  send  delegates  to  an 
Irish  National  Convention  to  be  held  in  McCor- 
mack's  Hall,  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  Illinois,  on  the 
30th  of  November  and  the  ist  and  2d  of  Decem- 
ber, 1 88 1.  The  appeal  urged  the  branches  and 
societies  to  "  select  as  delegfates  the  wisest  and 
ablest  in  your  respective  communities,  so  that  the 
convention  may  be  thoroughly  representative." 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  495 

President  Collins  and  the  other  national  officers 
at  the  same  time  issued  an  official  call  for  the  con- 
vention.    Among  other  things  it  said : 

"This  is  a  summons  to  the  entire  race  and  all 
its  friends  in  America ;  and  in  that  spirit  It  is 
hoped  and  expected  it  -will  be  answered.  Ireland 
is  darkened  with  troops,  her  people  are  disarmed, 
her  chosen  leaders  are  in  prison,  her  voice  Is 
stifled. 

"  These  worse  than  Asian  methods  of  repression 
have  been  tried  before  and  have  failed.  They 
will  fail  now  also,  but  It  depends  upon  us  to  make 
the  failure  so  complete  that  the  methods  will 
never  again  be  applied. 

"  In  all  her  ages  of  trial  Ireland  has  never 
shown  among  her  people  so  much  courage  and 
fortitude,  linked  with  patience  and  wisdom,  as 
now. 

"  It  is  because  her  people  never  before  were 
so  thoroughly  instructed  as  to  their  rights,  or 
so  well  trained  In  methods  for  their  enforce- 
ment. It  Is  because  we  have  promised  them  that 
when  the  hour  of  tension  arrived  they  could  rely 
upon  us  and  upon  all  their  scattered  kindred. 

"  The  time  has  now  come  to  keep  that  promise, 
and  to  show  to  mankind  how  a  people  can  fight  a 
battle  without  guns  and  win  a  victory  without 
bloodshed. 

"The  gravity  of  the  situation  In  Ireland  de- 
mands instant,  intelligent  and  sober  action  here. 


496  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

"  Let  the  convention  at  Chicago  be  the  greatest 
and  most  representative  body  ever  held  to  discuss 
the  Irish  question  or  aid  the  Irish  cause.  Let  it 
show  to  the  world  that  all  our  people  here 
demand  for  the  people  of  Ireland  justice  and  self- 
gbvernment,  and  will  sustain  them  in  efforts  to 
that  end." 

The  convention  was  C2tlled  to  order  by  the 
Hon.  John  F.  Finerty,  of  Chicago,  journalist  and 
Congressman,  in  a  lengthy  and  fiery  address. 
Hon.  Wm.  J.  Hynes,  of  Chicago,  was  its  Tempo- 
rary Chairman.  A  Committee  on  Credentials 
was  appointed,  consisting  of  one  delegate  from 
every  State  and  Territory  in  the  United  States 
and  Canada.  The  Committee  on  Permanent  Or- 
ganization Avas  as  follows :  New  York,  Judge 
Rooney ;  Illinois,  Hon.  Richard  Prendergast ; 
Michigan,  Rev.  Dr.  O'Reilly ;  Ohio,  Hon.  W.  J. 
Gleason ;  Pennsylvania,  Mr.  Patrick  Dunlevy; 
Iowa,  Hon.  M.  V.  Gannon  ;  Massachusetts,  Hon. 
Edward  Lynch. 

The  convention  numbered  845  delegates.  They 
admitted  no  proxy  representatives,  and  by  a  de- 
cided vote  declined  to  recoofnize  as  deleg-ates 
three  Socialists  from  an  organization  called 
"  Spread  the  Light  Club,"  by  this  decision  placing 
themselves  squarely  on  record  at  the  outset  as 
law-abiding  citizens.  To  emphasize  that  position, 
Hon.  Francis  Agnew,  of  Illinois,  the  Chairman  of 
the  Committee  on  Credentials,  declared  that  "  the 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  497 

applicants  had  not  been  recognized  as  delegates 
because  it  was  the  opinion  of  the  committee  that 
the  club  they  claimed  to  represent  was  of  a  po- 
litical nature,  and  besides  thei^e  had  been  strong  op- 
position from  all  quarters  to  their  ad77tission  as 
Socialists." 

A  cursory  glance  at  the  list  of  the  permanent 
officers  of  the  convention  will  give  the  reader 
some  idea  of  the  representative  character  of  its 
members.  Among  them  were  clergymen,  jour- 
nalists, lawyers,  physicians,  bankers  and  repre- 
sentatives of  the  commercial  and  industrial  inter- 
ests of  the  country,  many  of  them  differing  in 
their  religious  views,  but  all  of  them  animated 
with  the  single  desire  and  purpose  of  aiding  Mr. 
Parnell  in  his  plans  of  constitutional  agitation. 
Here  they  are : 

President — Rev.  George  C.  Betts,  of  St.  Louis, 
Missouri. 

Vice-Presidents — Hon.  Wm.  J.  Hynes,  Illinois  ; 
Rev.  Maurice  Dorney,  Illinois ;  Dr.  William  Car- 
roll, Pennsylvania;  John  Boyle  O'Reilly  and  Hon. 
Patrick  A.  Collins,  Massachusetts;  Patrick  Ford, 
New  York  ;  Patrick  Smith,  Ohio  ;  James  Gibson, 
New  Jersey;  James  J.  Kelly,  Minnesota;  P.  H. 
McManus,  Indiana;  James  Reynolds,  Connecti- 
cut ;  Miss  Davitt,  Pennsylvania ;  Rev.  Lawrence 
Walsh,  Connecticut;  Rev.  P.  Cronin,  New  York; 
Rev.  W.  J.  Dalton,  Missouri;  J.  J.  Linahan  and 
Hon.  M.  V.  Gannon,  Iowa ;   Mrs.  Parnell,   New 


498  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Jerse}^ ;  J.  B.  Mannix,  Ohio ;  Rev.  Dr.  O'Hara, 
New  York ;  Dr.  John  Guerin  and  Bernard  Cal- 
laghan,  lUinois ;  Miss  E.  A.  Ford,  John  Devoy 
and  John  C.  Maguire,  New  York ;  Hon.  Thomas 
A.  Moran  and  Hon.  Alexander  SuUivan,  Illinois; 
Col.  Michael  Boland,  Kentucky ;  Rev.  D.  O'Con- 
nell,  New  York  ;  Rev.  M.  C.  McEnroe,  Pa. ;  Henry 
F.  Sheridan,  Illinois ;  J.  D.  O'Connell,  District  of 
Columbia ;  Col.  John  Atkinson  and  John  R.  Cof- 
fey, Chicago;  John  S,  Burke,  Wisconsin;  Dennis 
O'Connor,  Chicago ;  Dr.  William  Wallace,  Hon. 
John  G.  Rogers  and  Thomas  Casey,  New  York ; 
James  Mooney,  Buffalo,  New  York  ;  George  D. 
Plant,  Illinois;  Mr.  Sanderson,  New  Jersey; 
Marcus  Kavanaugh,  Iowa ;  Rev.  J.  McDermott, 
Maryland ;  Thomas  J.  Sheridan,  E.  S.  Murphy 
and  T.  J.  Dennehy,  New  York ;  John  V.  Crozier, 
Pennsylvania ;  M.  W.  Ryan,  William  Condon  and 
Andrew  J.  O'Connor,  Illinois;  Mr.  Brown  and 
Joseph  Judge,  Missouri ;  Wm.  Stapleton  and  Rev. 
John  A.  Fanning,  Illinois;  John  O'Donnell,  Penn- 
sylvania; M.  J.  Costello  and  J.  N.  Mullahey,  Col- 
orado ;  Mr.  Kavanaugh  and  Hon.  J.  G.  Donnelly, 
Wisconsin ;  David  Sullivan,  Illinois ;  W,  Kenne- 
dy, Wisconsin;  N.  F.  Dunlevy,  Pennsylvania;  F. 
Gavin  and  P.  Sheahan,  Indiana ;  P.  J.  McGuire, 
Canada. 

Marshal — Frank  Agnew,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

Secretaries — J.  D.  Ronayne,  Massachusetts ; 
Hon.    T.    V.    Powderly,    Pennsylvania;    Thomas 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  499 

Flatley,  Massachusetts;  Martin  I.  ].  Griffin  and 
C.  Horgan,  Pennsylvania ;  D.  J.  Haltigan,  New 
York ;  George  Sweeney,  Ohio ;  Timothy  Crean, 
Illinois ;  Jeremiah  Galvin,  Canada. 

Despatches  were  received  from  prominent 
Americans  all  over  the  country  wishing  the  con- 
vention "  God-speed  in  its  good  work,"  and  ac- 
companied by  liberal  donations  ranging  from  <^5o 
up  to  $  1,000.  Notable  among  the  despatches 
was  the  following  from  the  lamented  Wendell 
Phillips: 

"  Boston,  Mass.,  November  2,0th. 
"  Congratulate  all  our  friends  on  the  blunders 
of  Ireland's  enemies  and  on  the  serene  patience 
and  stubborn  courage  of  her  friends. 

"Wendell  Phillips." 

It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  the  name  of  that 
illustrious  man  was  cheered  again  and  again. 
To  perpetuate  his  memory  and  show  to  the  world 
their  loving  appreciation  of  his  noble  efforts  on 
behalf  of  Ireland's  independence,  the  Irish  race  in 
nearly  every  large  city  in  the  Union  has  named 
some  of  its  strongest  branches  after  him.  Wher- 
ever  they  assemble,  in  convention,  at  a  public 
"  celebration,"  in  mass-meeting,  at  their  clubs,  or 
at  their  banquets,  they  will  always  hold  in  grate- 
ful remembrance  the  whole-souled  support  and 
the  tender  sympathy  so  unstintedly  given  them 


500  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

and  their  country  by  this  great  and  gifted  Ameri- 
can.    Sit  tibi  te7'7'a  levis^ 

Following  steadily  in  the  line  of  conduct  so 
ably  marked  out  by  the  preceding  National  Con- 
vention, the  Chicago  assemblage  adopted  a  series 
of  incisive,  clear-cut  resolutions,  which  told  in  no 
uncertain  words  or  phrases  exactly  the  sort  of 
platform  on  which  that  body  stood.  They  read 
as  follows: 

''Resolved,  That  as,  in  the  words  of  the  Ameri- 
can Declaration  of  Independence,  '  the  consent  of 
the  governed  is  the  only  power  from  which  a 
government  justly  derives  its  authority,'  and  as, 
in  the  words  of  one  of  Her  British  Majesty's 
present  Cabinet  Ministers — Mr.  Joseph  Chamber- 
lain— 'after  loo  years  of  English  rule  in  Ireland, 
English  rule  there  can  only  be  maintained  by 
fifty  thousand  bayonets,'  this  convention  declares 
English  rule  in  Ireland  to  be  without  either  lecral 
or  moral  sanction,  and  demands  the  establishment 
in  Ireland  of  a  national  government  based  upon 
the  will  of  the  Irish  people. 

''Resolved,  That  as  the  English  Government  has 
avowed  the  resolve  to  subjugate  the  Irish  nation 
by  wholesale  eviction,  by  the  arrest  of  every 
friend  of  the  popular  cause,  the  suspension  of 
every  popular  right,  and  the  terrorism  of  military 
force ;  and  as  the  Irish  people  have  shown  an 
equal  determination  to  meet  these,  and  by  pas- 

*  Light  lie  the  earth  upon  thy  grave. 


'    THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  501 

sive  resistance  defeat  this  attack  on  their  Hberties, 
this  convention,  representing  the  Irish-American 
race,  pledge  the  people  of  Irish  birth  and  Irish 
descent  in  this  country  to  stand  by  the  people  at 
home  in  this  momentous  struggle,  to  the  full 
extent  of  their  power  and  resources. 

""Resolved,  That  this  convention  thoroughly 
endorses  the  policy  of  the  Irish  leaders  at  home 
in  the  present  crisis ;  that  we  have  entire  confi- 
dence in  their  patriotism  and  statesmanship ;  and 
that  we  tender  to  them,  and  the  Irish  people  at 
large,  the  expression  of  our  sympathy  and  the 
assurance  that  in  every  struggle  against  British 
rule  they  will  be  fully  sustained  by  their  kindred 
in  America. 

''Resolved,  That  we  heartily  endorse  the  '  No> 
Rent '  Manifesto  of  the  home  executive  of  the  Irish 
National  Land  League,  at  once  as  the  best  avail- 
able weapon  to  strike  their  landlord  jailers,  and 
as  a  swift  and  smiting  instrument  to  abolish  utterly 
the  bad  and  hateful  system,  and  as  the  fitting 
answer  of  the  Irish  people  to  the  attempt  of  the 
Coercion  Ministry  to  force  the  acceptance  of 
defective  legislation  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet. 

''Resolved,  That  with  the  view  of  giving  prac- 
tical effect  to  the  foregoing  address  and  resolu- 
tions, the  convention  recommends  that  a  special 
levy  of  ^250,000  from  the  organizations  here 
represented  and  all  other  organizations  friendly 
to  the  Irish  cause,  and  from  the  friends  of  such 


502  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

organizations,  be  forwarded  as  an  instalment  be- 
fore the  first  day  of  February,  1882,  to  the  Central 
Treasurer  of  the  Irish  National  Land  League." 

It  was  General  Patrick  Collins  who  proposed, 
and  Hon.  Patrick  Ford  who  seconded  the  resolu- 
tion pledging  by  the  first  of  February,  1882,  that 
contribution  of  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  dollars — 
equal  to  fifty  thousand  pounds.  Let  it  be  remem- 
bered that  this  was  on  the  last  day  of  the  conven- 
tion, December  i,  1881,  and  the  reader  will  be 
able  to  form  an  intelligent  idea  of  the  sterling 
stuff  of  which  its  members  were  composed.  That 
they  really  "  meant  business "  their  words  and 
subsequent  actions  frankly  told.  This  promise, 
it  may  be  added,  was  kept,  except  in  one  particu- 
lar. It  was  about  the  2d  or  3d  of  April  of  1882 
when  the  full  amount  was  subscribed.  The 
money,  however,  arrived  on  the  other  side  of  the 
ocean  in  ample  time  to  aid  the  home  executive  in 
their  battle  for  the  right ;  so  that  the  intentions 
and  pledges  of  these  patriotic  delegates  were,  of 
a  verity,  substantially  carried  out.  And,  at  this 
point,  I  feel  it  to  be  my  duty  to  note  that  this 
characteristic  of  faithfully  carrying  out  to  the 
letter  every  syllable  of  its  pledges  has  been  a 
distinctively  marked  feature  of  every  convention 
of  the  Irish  race  in  America  since  the  keynote  of 
the  movement  was  first  sounded  in  Ireland  and 
the  United  States  by  Charles  Stewart  Parnell  and 
Michael  Davitt. 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  §03 

Just  as  the  hearty  chorus  of  full-throated  "ayes" 
ratifying  and  endorsing  the  pledge  rang  out 
through  the  convention  hall,  a  reverend  delegate, 
turning  hastily  to  General  Collins,  said : 

"Why  did  you  say  ^250,000?  You  ought  to 
have  put  in  ^500,000!  " 

"Oh,  Father,"  replied  the  General,  "I  didn't 
want  to  go  beyond  the  mark.  Our  people  will, 
I'm  sure,  subscribe  every  penny  of  that  quarter 
of  a  million." 

"Subscribe  it?  Of  course  they  will ;  ay,  and  as 
much  more  when  they  know  that  it's  going  into 
the  right  hands  and  to  be  applied  to  a  proper 
purpose.  I'll  tell  my  people,  of  the  branch  of 
which  I  am  president,  that  I  have  pledged  my 
credit  to  you  for  ^1,000.  I  pledge  it  now.  They 
will  see  that  my  word  is  kept." 

They  did  see  that  his  word  was  kept.  Their 
contribution  was  among  the  earliest,  although 
their  branch  was,  comparatively  speaking,  a  small 
one.  I  cite  the  foregoing  conversation  and  its 
result  as  an  instance  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
different  branches  went  to  work  with  a  will  and 
raised  their  quota. 

Among  the  most  earnest  and  energetic  laborers 
"  in  the  cause,  the  ladies  of  Irish  birth  or  Irish 
descent  have  always  been  found  in  the  fore-front. 
The  Ladies'  Land  League  of  Montreal,  Canada, 
in  their  telegraphed  greeting  to  the  convention 
said: 


504  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

"  Make  no  terms  with  the  land  thieves.  .  .  . 
The  '  No-Rent '  Manifesto  receives  our  unquaHfied 
support,  and  we  are  prepared  to  stand  by  it. 
The  land  of  Ireland  for  the  people  of  Ireland. 
No  half-way  measures.  Convey  to  the  people  of 
Ireland  the  assurance  that,  remaining  loyal  to 
their  leaders,  they  will  receive  our  hearty  and 
earnest  support.  .  .  .  God  save  Ireland. 

"  Anne  McDonnell,  President 
"  Ellen  Hayes,  Secretary y 

The  Ladies'  Land  League  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y . 
sent  their  greeting  and  best  wishes,  and  unquali- 
fied endorsements  of  the  "  No-Rent"  declaration 
were  received  from  Land  League  branches  and 
other  Irish  organizations  at  Little  Rock,  Arkansas; 
Pittsburgh,  Pa. ;  Portland,  Oregon  ;  Hot  Springs, 
Arkansas ;  Arnold,  Pa. ;  Winoski,  Vt. ;  Ishpem- 
ing,  Mich. ;  Mobile,  Ala. ;  Eureka,  Nev. :  Colusa, 
Cal. ;  Williamsport,  Pa. ;  Halifax,  N.  S. ;  Ottawa, 
Ont.  ;  Philadelphia,  Pa. ;  Helena,  M.  T. ;  Los 
Angeles,  Cal. ;  Johnstown,  Pa. ;  Lebanon,  Ky. ; 
Lynn,  Mass. ;  Concord,  N.  H. ;  San  Francisco, 
Cal. ;  Elmira,  N.  Y. ;  Chattanooga,  Tennessee, 
and  very  many  other  places  in  all  quarters  of  the 
country. 

The  convention  adopted  and  officially  pub- 
lished an  eloquent  address  to  the  American  people 
and  all  friends  of  liberty,  which  was  presented  by 
the  Rev.  Thomas  J.  Conaty,  of  Massachusetts,  and 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  505 

a  carefully  selected  committee.  It  arraigned  the 
then  Gladstonian  policy,  endorsed  Charles  Stewart 
Parnell  and  the  "  No-Rent "  policy,  and  concluded 
with  the  following  spirited  declaration : 

"  In  whatever  efforts  the  Irish  people  may  now, 
or  in  the  future,  make  to  rid  themselves  of  alien 
domination,  and  to  regain  the  highest  privilege 
that  a  people  can  enjoy — that  of  self-government 
— we  pledge  ourselves  to  be  their  faithful  allies, 
subject  to  their  calls  upon  us  for  aid,  so  far  as 
our  power  and  resources  may  permit,  but  dictating 
to  them  no  policy,  and  demanding  from  them  no 
conditions. 

"We  believe  and  declare  that  Ireland  cannot 
be  happy,  prosperous  or  contented  under  the  rule 
of  an  alien  Parliament,  and,  furthermore,  we  have 
no  sympathy  with  any  government  in  any  country 
that  has  not  its  strono-est  foundations  in  the  love 
of  the  people  governed.  It  is  patent  to  the  whole 
world,  outside  of  Great  Britain,  that  the  British 
Government  in  Ireland  is  the  child  of  injustice  and 
the  creature  of  coercion. 

"We  applaud,  with  most  heartfelt  pride,  the 
indomitable  spirit  of  the  Irish  people  at  home  who 
have  never  acquiesced  in  the  fraudulent  destruc- 
tion of  their  autonomy,  and  we  hope  with  them  to 
see  Ireland  restored  to  her  rightful  position  among 
self-governed  nations." 

The  Irish  envoys  or  delegates,  Hons.  T.  P. 
O'Connor  and  T.  M.  Healy,  although  they  man- 


506  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

ifested  a  lively  and  active  interest  in  its  delibera- 
tions, did  not  address  the  convention.  At  the 
conclusion  of  its  sessions  a  reception  was  tendered 
to  them  and  their  co-laborer,  Rev.  Eugene  Sheehy, 
at  which  Judge  Moran  presided.  From  their 
speeches  that  evening  were  subsequently  culled 
by  those  loyal-hearted  priests,  Revs.  James  A.  Bre- 
hony  and  Thomas  Barry,  Philadelphia,  and  other 
Irish  orators  and  leaders,  pithy  selections  that 
made  some  of  the  texts  of  their  eloquent  discourses 
on  Irish  affairs  for  several  years  afterwards.  At 
the  present  day  their  force  and  applicability  to  the 
existing  condition  of  affairs  are  still  equally  appa- 
rent.    Take  a  few  instances : 

O'Connor — "  Coercion  is  sfrowinor  more  useless 
and  less  powerful  in  the  hands  of  its  employers." 

O'Connor — "The  heart  and  soul  are  the  reali- 
ties of  man,  and  these  have  not  been  crushed." 

Sheehy — "  We  wish  to  destroy  landlordism  only 
as  the  stepping-stone  to  a  greater  and  higher 
end." 

Sheehy — "  Nothing  good — nothing  great  has 
been  purchased  without  sacrifice.  No  birth — 
above  all  that  of  Freedom — has  been  without 
pain." 

Healy — "  Our  policy  is  not  to  be  bought  or 
sold." 

Healy — "The  Irish  policy  is  not  shaped  by 
American  dollars  or  British  g^old." 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  507 

THE   league's    second    NATIONAL   GATHERING. 

The  Second  Annual  Convention  of  the  Irish 
National  Land  League  of  America  was  held  four 
months  later,  on  April  12,  1882,  in  Washington, 
D.  C.  Here  General  Collins,  the  President,  and 
Secretary  Flatley,  resigned  their  respective  offices, 
both  of  them  declining  a  unanimously  proffered 
re-election.  Two  hundred  branches  of  the 
League,  represented  by  two  hundred  and  fift}^- 
two  delegates,  composed  the  convention.  As 
usual,  the  utmost  harmony  characterized  their 
proceedings.  The  resolutions,  etc.,  adopted  by 
them  were  fully  in  line  with  those  presented  at  the 
Chicago  gathering.  ^  The  delegates,  recognizing 
the  eminent  fitness  of  James  Mooney,  of  Buffalo, 
N.  Y.,  for  the  position  of  President  of  their 
national  organization,  selected  him  for  that  posi- 
tion unanimously,  and,  as  he  was  at  that  time  in 
Buffalo  attending  to  his  professional  pursuits  and 
for  that  reason  unable  to  be  present  at  the  con- 
vention. Rev.  Father  Patrick  Cronin  was  instructed 
to  notify  him  by  telegraph  of  the  action  of  the 
convention  and  request  a  favorable  response. 
Mr.  Mooney  telegraphed  acceptance  as  follows : 

"Buffalo,  April  13,  1882. 
"I  accept  the  trust  and  pledge  my  best  efforts 
to  further  the  good  work  inaugurated  by  Michael 
Davitt.     It  must  not  be  relinquished  till  the  soil 
of  Ireland  shall  be  as  free  as  that  of  America, 

"  James  Mooney." 


508  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

John  J.  Hynes,  the  ardent,  high-souled  Nation- 
alist, of  Buffalo,  was  elected  National  Secretary, 
and  Rev.  Lawrence  Walsh  was  re-elected  National 
Treasurer. 

Of  President  Mooney  it  has  been  truthfully  said 
that  "  no  friend  of  Ireland,  in  America,  has  done 
more  to  make  her  cause  respected."  Popular 
with  his  fellow-townsmen  of  all  races  and  creeds, 
it  was  no  wonder  that  the  delegates  from  Buffalo 
in  speaking  of  him  declared  their  honest  convic- 
tion that  his  election  would  add  new  life  to  the 
Irish  movement,  and  that  the  good  will  enter- 
tained towards  him  in  that  city  "  would  not  be  a 
circumstance  to  the  popularity  that  would  attend 
him  wherever  he  went  through  this  great  country, 
attracting  to  the  Irish  cause  through  his  courtesy, 
talents  and  versatility,  all  who  would  hear  his  elo- 
quent tongue  pleading  for  the  oppressed  and 
down-trodden  natives  of  Ireland." 

James  Mooney  was  born  in  Ardetegal,  Queen's 
County,  Ireland,  on  June  29,  1838.  His  parents 
were  of  the  prosperous  farming  class,  and  his 
family  were  always  of  patriotic  impulse,  one  of  his 
ancestors  being  executed  as  "a  rebel"  in  1798, 
When  James  was  five  years  old  his  parents 
decided  to  seek  a  new  home  in  America,  and  set- 
tled in  Dundas,  near  Hamilton,  Ontario.  Here 
he  was  educated  at  a  private  school,  and  here  he 
received  his  first  lessons  in  the  sad  history  of  his 
native  country. 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  511 

Dundas  was  "something  of  an  Irish  settlement," 
and  from  constantly  arriving  immigrants  the  young 
lad  heard  many  a  tale  of  cruel  eviction,  and  his 
tender  heart  was  wrung  with  sorrow  and  pity  as 
he  listened  to  the  tearful  recitals  of  the  sufferinofs 
and  hardships  of  the  exiles.  It  will  thus  be  seen 
that  amid  such  surroundings  he  could  not  fail  to 
imbibe  a  love  of  his  mother-land  and  a  hearty 
detestation  of  the  infamous  system  of  misgovern- 
ment  under  which  she  w^as  suffering.  He  com- 
pleted his  education  in  the  public  schools  of  Buf- 
falo, and,  with  the  laudable  purpose  of  assisting 
his  parents  to  raise  and  educate  the  younger 
members  of  the  family,  he  engaged  as  an  account- 
ant with  a  lumber  firm  at  Tonawanda.  For  a 
short  time  he  held  a  position  in  the  office  of  the 
Receiver  of  Taxes  of  Buffalo,  after  which  he  read 
law  in  the  office  of  the  Hon.  Chas.  D.  Norton. 
When  he  was  twenty  years  of  age  he  engaged  in 
business  as  a  real  estate  and  insurance  broker, 
in  which  he  has  since  continued,  winning  his  way 
to  affluence  by  industry  and  integrity.  He  is  a 
large  real  estate  owner,  a  man  of  high  social  po- 
sition, and  has  always  been  honorably  prominent 
in  the  public  affairs  of  his  native  city.  He  is  one 
of  its  leading  Roman  Catholics,  and  has  three 
times  successively  been  honored  with  the  position 
of  President  of  the  Younof  Men's  Catholic  Asso- 
elation.  While  always  contributing  to  every 
movement  that  had  in  view  the  emancipation  of 
80 


512  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

his  race  or  the  elevation  of  its  children,  Mr. 
Mooney  never  joined  any  Irish  organization  until 
Charles  Stewart  Parnell  and  John  Dillon  visited 
Buffalo  in  1880.  Desirous  that  these  distin- 
guished Irishmen  should  receive  an  ovation  worthy 
of  them  and  honorable  to  Buffalo,  he  entered 
zealously  into  the  work  of  preparing  for  their 
visit.  To  his  influence  and  exertions  was  mainly 
due  the  splendid  success  of  the  meeting  which 
they  addressed,  and  at  which  nearly  seven 
thousand  dollars  were  subscribed.  Shortly  before 
this  meeting  was  held  Mr.  Mooney  joined  the 
Buffalo  branch  of  the  Land  League.  Always  an 
enthusiast,  he  has  worked  constantly  and  ear- 
nestly to  keep  that  prosperous  city  in  the  van  in 
everything  that  helps  the  Irish  cause. 

John  J.  Hynes  was  one  of  the  most  efficient 
National  Secretaries  of  the  Land  League.  He 
was  born  in  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  of  Irish  Catholic  par- 
ents, who  arrived  in  this  country  in  1847.  ^^ 
attended  the  public  schools  until  he  was  fourteen 
years  old,  when  he  entered  Bryant  and  Stratton's 
Commercial  College,  where  he  remained  for  one 
year.  He  was  only  fifteen  years  of  age  when  he 
began  work  as  clerk  and  accountant,  continuing 
as  such  until  he  began  his  law  studies  in  1877. 
For  seven  years  he  held  the  important  position 
of  Chief  of  the  Engrossing  Department  in  the 
Erie  County  Clerk's  Office.  He  resigned  that 
situation  after  his  admission  to  the   bar  by  the 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  513 

Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  New  York  and 
began  the  practice  of  law.  During  1879  and  1880 
Mr.  Hynes  represented  his  ward  (the  largest  in 
the  city)  in  the  Board  of  Supervisors,  being 
elected  by  a  constituency  for  the  most  part 
opposed  to  him  politically,  but  cordially  recogniz- 
ing his  fitness  for  the  office.  He  has  had  much 
experience  in  what  are  usually  known  as  "society 
affairs,"  possessing  notable  organizing  abilities, 
and  having  an  immense  capacity  for  serious  and 
intelligent  work.  He  brings  to  the  discharge  of 
the  duties  entrusted  to  him  tact  and  promptness. 
He  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  "  McMahon 
Corps,"  a  crack  Irish-American  military  organi- 
zation attached  to  the  National  Guard  of  New 
York,  serving  with  it  eight  years,  the  last  two  as 
its  commander.  He  is  a  charter-member  of  the 
Catholic  Mutual  Beneficial  Association,  which  now 
numbers  15,000  members  in  the  United  States 
and  Canada,  and  is  a  member  of  its  Supreme 
Council. 

Mr.  Hynes  has  always  been  an  earnest,  inde- 
fatigable and  sincere  exponent  of  the  cause  of 
Irish  freedom  and  was  one  of  the  litde  band  who 
first  organized  the  Land  League  in  his  native 
city,  fulfilling  faithfully  the  duties  of  Correspond- 
ing Secretary,  first  in  Branch  No.  i,  later  in 
Branch  No.  2  (St.  Bridget's).  He  represented 
the  latter  branch  in  every  Irish  national  conven- 
tion held  in  this  country  since  the  organization 


514  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

of  the  Land  League.  He  was  married  in  1878,10 
Miss  Anna  M.  McCarthy,  an  estimable  young  lady 
of  his  native  city,  who  at  that  time  was  principal 
in  one  of  the  departments  of  the  Buffalo  public 
schools. 

When  James  Mooney  was  elected  President  of 
the  Land  League  its  constitution  at  that  time  pro- 
vided for  a  Central  Council,  consisting  of  the 
three  national  officers — the  President,  Secretary, 
and  Treasurer — who  had  full  charge  and  man- 
agement of  the  National  Land  League  of  Amer- 
ica, and  through  whom  all  moneys  raised  in 
this  country  for  the  Land  League  in  Ire- 
land were  transmitted  to  Patrick  Egan,  the 
Irish  National  Treasurer.  At  the  meeting  of  the 
Central  Council,  in  Buffalo,  April  18,  1882,  it  was 
ascertained  from  the  roll  of  the  previous  council 
that  over  nine  hundred  branches  were  affiliated 
with  the  national  organization.  Owing  10  the 
condition  of  affiairs  at  that  time  and  the  very 
small  number  of  branches  represented  at  the  late 
convention,  the  new  Council  believed  that  many 
branches  had  ceased  to  exist  or  had  severed  their 
coonection  with  the  national  body.  It  was  deter- 
mined to  find  out  as  soon  as  practicable  how 
many  branches  were  in  actual  existence.  Ac- 
cordingly Secretary  Hynes  mailed  a  circular  let- 
ter of  inquiry  to  every  branch  secretary  whose 
address  was  on  the  national  rolls.  After  the  ex- 
penditure of  much  valuable  time  and  considerable 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  51 5 

fabor  it  was  ascertained  that  only  about  five  hun- 
dred branches  in  America  were,  at  that  date,  affil> 
iated  to  the  national  organization. 

About  this  date  Mr.  Parnell  and  his  associates 
were  released  from  Kilmainham  Jail,  and  the  news 
was  received  in  this  country  with  joy  and  hope 
for  better  times  for  the  people  at  home.  On  the 
part  of  the  National  League,  President  Mooney 
promptly  cabled,  on  May  3,  1882,  his  congratu- 
lations to  "  Mr.  Parnell  and  the  Irish  people  on 
the  destruction  of  coercion." 

The  release  of  the  Irish  patriots  gave  the  new 
officers  here  an  inspiring  impulse,  in  beginning 
their  work  of  increasing  and  strengthening  the 
American  auxiliary  organization.  Everything 
seemed  bright  for  Ireland.  Success  was  appar- 
ently at  last  about  to  crown  the  efforts  of  her 
struggling  sons.  Encouraging  reports  were  com- 
ing in  daily  and  hourly  from  all  sections  of  the 
country  of  branches  re-organizing,  of  new  ones 
being  established,  and  of  old  ones  recruiting  their 
ranks  rapidly.  Suddenly  came  flashing  across 
the  Adantic  the  dreadful  announcement  of  the 
Phoenix  Park  murders,  filling  many  with  dismay 
and  dishearteninor  others  from  whom  substantial 
aid  and  sympathy  were  confidently  anticipated. 

President  Mooney,  writing  of  the  situation  at 
that  time,  says:  "The  news  cast  such  a  shadow  upon 
everything  connected  with  the  Irish  national  cause, 
that  it  was  only  by  immense  effort  that  the  friends 


516  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

of  Ireland  were  rallied  and  the  League  was  kept 
'  from  total  dismemberment.  For  a  time  we  were 
in  almost  daily  receipt  of  letters  from  branches 
that  had  disbanded  or  were  about  to  do  so.  One 
of  the  greatest  trials  of  this  perplexing  time  was 
differences  of  opinion  and  advice  among  friends 
whose  counsel  was  entitled  to  respectful  attention. 
Some  were  clamorous  that  the  Central  Council 
should  denounce  the  crime.  Some  even  advo- 
cated the  offering  of  a  reward  from  the  Leao-ue 
funds  for  the  apprehension  of  the  murderers  ! 
Others  advised  that  we  had  enough  to  do  to  de- 
nounce  the  crimes  of  landlordism  and  the  cruel- 
ties done  in  the  name  and  under  the  guise  of 
English  law." 

The  Central  Council  held  many  sessions,  but 
were  unanimous  in  the  decision  that,  deplorable 
as  the  crime  was,  the  Land  League  of  Ireland  or 
America  had  no  hand  or  part  in  it,  and,  therefore, 
it  would  be  unwise  and  unbecomine  to  denounce 
it  officially,  or  otherwise  take  cognizance  of  it  as 
being  a  matter  in  which  they  were  in  any  way 
concerned.  To  this  resolve  they  adhered  firmly, 
turning  all  their  efforts  to  strengthen  and  increase 
the  American  organization,  and  to  bear  it  safely 
over  the  waves  of  misfortune  that  seemed  about 
to  overwhelm  it.  The  League  passed  through 
the  crisis  safely  and  began  to  flourish  as  it  had 
never  done  before  ;  but  this  was  the  darkest  and 
most  precarious  hour  of  all  its  life.     Through  all 


THE  GREAT  IRISH  STRUGGLE.  517 

this  excitement  the  national  officers  were  able  to 
do  their  duty,  and  to  keep  within  the  lines  in 
which  the  Land  Leao^ue  had  been  vvorkinor  since 
its  organization. 

With  the  design  of  encouraging  the  lukewarm, 
strengthening  the  weak-kneed,  and  bringing  to 
the  aid  of  the  Home  Executive  the  moral,  physical, 
and  financial  support  of  which  they  were  in  sore 
need,  the  Central   Council  issued  the   followine 

o 

official  circular  to  every  branch  in  the  United 
States  and  Canada : 

"Irish  National  Land  League  of  America. 
Central  Office,  Arcade  Building,  Main  Street, 
Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  May  27,  1882. 

"At  no  time  since  the  beginning  of  our  good 
work  has  the  Land  League  found  itself  in  so  criti- 
cal and  trying  apositionasnow.  Justwhen  success 
seemed  about  to  crown  its  patient  and  unselfish 
labors,  the  dark  deed  of  the  assassin  was  planned 
to  rob  Ireland  of  the  benefits  of  justice  and  peace 
that  seemed  at  last  to  promise.  The  infamous 
plot  is  successful,  and  Ireland  is  to  be  subjected 
to  a  new  code  of  misrule,  so  oppressive  that 
what  has  gone  before  seems  almost  just  and  gen- 
erous by  comparison.  A  whole  people  are  to  be 
punished  for  a  crime  in  which  they  have  neither 
interest  nor  sympathy ;  which  everything  points 
out  to  be  the  work  of  that  class  who  will  now 
reap  its  reward  in  these  new  acts  of  oppression. 


518  '         GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

That  Enofland  has  withdrawn  the  hand  held  out 
in  meagre  and  tardy  justice  does  not  discourage 
nor  disappoint  us,  for  she  has  never  taught  us  to 
look  to  her  for  honor  or  good  faith.  We  have 
but  one  duty  in  this  trying  hour,  and  it  is  to  meet 
her  renewal  of  oppression  by  redoubling  our  ef- 
forts and  increasing  our  generosity  towards  those 
who  look  to  us  from  across  the  sea  for  aid  and 
comfort.  We  shall  not  fail  them  in  their  renewed 
struggle;  and  in  view  of  the  fact  that  25,000 
evicted  tenants  are  now  said  to  be  dependent  on 
the  Land  League,  and  that  the  number  is  increas- 
ing, some  special  effort  seems  to  be  necessary. 
We  therefore  recommend  to  every  branch  in  the 
United  States  to  make  an  extraordinary  effort  to 
meet  the  emergency,  that  by  the  ist  of  October, 
1882,  at  the  very  latest,  we  may  have  ready  for 
transmission  to  the  General  Treasurer,  a  special 
fund,  which  should  not  be  less  than  ^250,000. 
This  would  be  the  most  eloquent,  the  most  fitting 
answer  we  could  give  to  the  new  tyrannies  now 
being  prepared  for  our  unhappy  fatherland. 

"As  enemies  are  busy  at  work,  trying  to  cast 
discredit  upon  our  noble  leaders,  we  should  also 
give  the  strongest  and  most  unanimous  expres- 
sion to  our  undiminished  faith  and  confidence  in 
Parnell,  Davitt,  Dillon  and  Egan.  We  well  know 
their  sacrifices  and  their  labors.  We  should 
pledge  them  anew  our  support  and  sympathy, 
express  our  firm  belief  in  their  good  judgment, 


THE  GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  519 

and  in  their  knowledge  of  what  is  best  in  this 
critical  hour. 

"  Let  us  all  labor  to  increase  our  numbers.  We 
have  an  organization  that  we  may  well  be  proud 
of,  that  every  Irishman  in  America  can  and 
should  join.  Let  every  Land  Leaguer  bring  in  his 
friends,  let  new  branches  be  formed  through  the 
aid  and  influence  of  those  already  established. 
Above  all,  let  there  be  union  of  labor,  of  zeal  and 
of  sejttiment.  A  good  example  has  been  set  by 
large  and  influential  branches  in  New  York  City, 
and  in  Monroe  County,  N.  Y.,  which,  heretofore, 
transmitted  their  moneys  direct  to  Paris,  but  who 
now,  to  further  union  and  to  avoid  confusion,  have 
commenced  to  transmit  through  the  appointed 
Treasurer  for  the  United  States,  Rev.  Lawrence 
Walsh,  of  Waterbury,  Conn.  We  trust  all  other 
branches  will  soon  follow  their  wise  example. 

"  If  we  stand  united,  if  every  member  will  show 
his  loyalty  by  making  individual  efforts  to  in- 
crease our  numbers,  and  to  replenish  our  treasury 
in  view  of  the  greatly  increased  tax  upon  it,  our 
organization  will  be  invincible,  and  its  beneficent 
work  will  keep  pace  with  the  tyranny  of  our  he- 
reditary enemy.  The  people  of  unhappy  Ireland 
must  resist  now  as  never  before  the  power  that 
strives  to  crush  them.  The  struggle  maybe  long 
and  bitter,  for  there  must  be  no  compromise ;  no 
half-measure  of  justice  will  suffice.  In  this  hour 
the  spirit  grows  strong,  that  nothing  but  a  resto- 


520  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

ration  of  our  lost  nationhood  can  satisfy  Irishmen 
in  the  old  land.  United  with  those  who  do  not  for- 
get their  wrongs,  though  living  here  in  freedom 
and  peace,  they  must  boldly  and  manfully  claim 
the  right — not  sue  for  it — to  live  as  freemen — 
not  as  serfs — on  the  soil  where  God  has  planted 
our  race. 

"James  Mooney,  Pi'esident. 

"Lawrence  Walsh,  Treasurer. 

"John  J.  Hynes,  Secretary. 
"Central  Council,  Irish  National  Land  League 
of  America." 

On  the  6th  of  July,  1882,  the  Central  Council 
visited  the  City  of  New  York  by  invitation  of 
Michael  Davitt — who  had  returned  to  America — 
to  meet  him  and  the  Chicago  Committee  of 
Seven  "for  the  purpose  of  consulting  together 
and  discussing  the  advisability  of  a  union  of  all 
the  organizations  in  America  who  were  working 
for  the  interests  of  Ireland."  The  conference 
was  held  at  the  Astor  House  and  the  following 
gentlemen  participated  in  it: 

James  Mooney,  President  I.  N.  L.  L.  of  Amer- 
ica, Rev.  Lawrence  Walsh,  Treasurer  I.  N.  L.  L. 
of  America,  John  J.  Hynes,  Secretary  I.  N.  L.  L. 
of  America,  Hon.  P.  A.  Collins,  Col.  Michael  Bo- 
land,  Patrick  Ford,  James  Reynolds,  Dr.  W.  B. 
Wallace,  and  Michael  Davitt  and  William  Red- 
mond, of  Ireland. 


TK£  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  521 

Mr.  Davitt  submitted  a  plan  of  a  proposed 
Gaelic  Union,  which,  after  an  informal  discussion, 
was  referred  to  the  national  officers  in  Ireland. 

Four  days  after  the  conference  Secretary 
Hynes  issued  his  first  quarterly  report  showing 
that  since  the  Washington  Convention  ^'6,457.50 
had  been  received  by  Father  Walsh,  of  which 
^7,017.50  had  been  transmitted  to  Treasurer 
Egan  In  Paris.  During  that  three  months  only 
six  new  branches  had  been  organized,  yet  Secre- 
tary Hynes  was  of  the  opinion  that  this  "  exhibit 
was  not  very  discouraging,  considering  the  trying 
ordeal  throuqrh  which  the  Land  Leag^ue  had 
just  passed." 

About  the  latter  end  of  this  month,  by  the  death 
at  Bordentown,  N.  J.,  of  Miss  Fanny  Parnell,  the 
Irish  cause  lost  one  of  its  most  fearless,  able,  and 
outspoken  advocates.  Young,  beautiful,  and  ac- 
complished, she  united  all  the  charm  and  tender- 
ness of  a  true  woman  with  the  stern  determi- 
nation and  decision  of  character  that  are  the 
marked  attributes  of  her  illustrious  brother — 
worthy  children  of  a  noble  race.  Her  memory 
will  live  for  generations  embalmed  in  the  hearts 
of  the  Irish  people  whom  she  loved  so  well. 
Among  the  last  of  her  thrilling  appeals  to  the 
patriotism  of  her  countrymen  was  the  following 
bold  and  striking  poem  addressed  to  the  Irish 
tenant  farmers : 


522  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 


Hold  the  Harvest. 

Now  are  you  men,  or  are  you  kine,  ye  tillers  of  the  soil  ? 
Would  you  be  free,  or  evermore,  the  rich  man's  cattle,  toil? 
The  shadow  on  the  dial  hangs  that  points  the  fatal  hour — 
Now  hold  your  own  !  or,  branded  slaves,  forever  cringe  and  cower, 

Tl\e  serpent's  curse  upon  you  lies — ye  writhe  within  the  dust ; 

Ye  fill  your  mouths  with  beggar's  swill,  ye  grovel  for  a  crust; 

Your  lords  have  set  their  blood-stained  heels  upon  your  shameful  heads, 

Yet  they  are  kind — they  leave  you  still  their  ditches  for  your  beds! 

Oh,  by  the  God  who  made  us  all — the  seignior  and  the  serf — 
Rise  up!  and  swear  this  day  to  hold  your  own  green  Irish  turf! 
Rise  up !  and  plant  your  feet  as  men  where  now  you  crawl  as  slaves. 
And  make  your  harvest  fields  your  camps,  or  make  of  them  your  graves ! 

The  birds  of  prey  are  hovering  round,  the  vultures  wheel  and  swoop — 
They  come,  the  coroneied  ghouls !  with  drum-beat  and  with  troop — 
They  come  to  fatten  on  your  flesh,  your  children's  and  your  wives' ; 
Ye  die  but  once — hold  fast  your  lands  and,  if  ye  can,  your  lives. 

Let  go  the  trembling  emigrant — not  such  as  he  ye  need ; 
Let  go  the  lucre-loving  wretch  that  flies  his  land  for  greed; 
Let  not  one  coward  stay  to  clog  your  manhood's  waking  power; 
Let  not  one  sordid  churl  pollute  the  Nation's  natal  hour. 

Yes,  let  them  go ! — the  caitiff  rout,  that  shirk  the  struggle  now — 
The  light  that  crowns  your  victory  shall  scorch  each  recreant  brow, 
And  in  the  annals  of  your  race,  black  parallels  in  shame. 
Shall  stand  by  traitor's  and  by  spy's  the  base  dcserier''s  name. 

Three  hundred  years  your  crops  have  sprung,  by  murdered  corpses  fed— 
Your  butchered  sires,  your  famished  sires,  for  ghastly  compost  spread; 
Their  bones  have  fertilized  your  fields,  their  blood  has  fall'n  like  rain ; 
They  died  that  ye  might  eat  and  live — God !  have  they  died  in  vain  ? 

The  yellow  corn  starts  blithely  up;  l)eneath  it  lies  a  grave — 
Your  father  died  in  "  Forty-eight" — his  life  for  yours  he  gave; — 
He  died  that  you,  his  son,  might  learn  there  is  no  helper  nigh 
Except  for  him  who,  save  in  fight,  has  sworn  he  will  not  die. 


THE   GREAT   IRISH  STRUGGLE.  523 

The  hour  is  struck,  Fate  holds  the  dice ;   we  stand  with  bated  breatli ; 
Now  who  shall  have  our  harvest  fair  ? — 'tis  Life  that  plays  with  Death ; 
Now  who  shall  have  our  motherland? — 'tis  Right  that  plays  with  Might; 
The  peasant's  arms  were  weak  indeed  in  such  unequal  fight ! 

But  God  is  on  the  peasant's  side — the  God  that  loves  the  poor : 
His  angels  stand  with  flaming  swords  on  every  mount  and  moor; 
They  guard  the  poor  man's  flocks  and  herds,  they  guard  his  ripening  grain — 
The  robber  sinks  beneath  their  cuise  beside  his  ill-got  gain. 

O  pallid  serfs  !  whose  groans  and  prayers  have  wearied  Heav'n  full  long, 

Look  up !  there  is  a  Law  above,  beyond  all  legal  wrong ; 

Rise  up !  the  answer  to  your  prayers  shall  come,  tornado-borne, 

And  ye  shall  hold  your  homesteads  dear,  and  ye  shall  reap  the  corn ! 

But  your  own  hands  upraised  to  guard  shall  draw  the  answer  down, 
And  bold  and  stern  the  deeds  must  be  that  oath  and  prayer  shall  crown ; 
God  only  fights  for  those  who  fight — now  hush  the  useless  moan, 
And  set  your  faces  as  a  flint  and  swear  to  Hold  Your  Own. 


The  sorrow  that  was  felt  in  every  branch  and 
at  every  fireside  at  her  untimely  death  found  ex- 
pression at  every  meeting  of  any  Irish  organiza- 
tion that  was  held  at  or  near  that  time  in  Ireland 
and  America.  Here  letters  poured  in  thick  and 
fast  upon  the  Central  Council  from  branches  and 
municipal  councils,  and  hundreds  of  prominent 
workers  in  the  Land  League,  urging  the  council 
to  take  charo-e  of  the  arrangements  for  the  inter- 
ment  of  the  remains  of  Erin's  gifted  daughter. 
After  consulting  with  Mrs.  Parnell  the  council 
decided  that  "it  would  be  eminently  proper  for 
the  national  organization  to  assume  the  charo-e 
and  expense  of  removing  the  remains  of  the  la- 
mented Fanny  Parnell  from  Bordentown,  N.  J.,  to 


524  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

the  family  vault  in  Boston,  Mass."  This  was 
accordingly  done.  President  Mooney  and  Secre- 
tary Hynes  represented  the  national  organization 
in  the  cortege,  Father  Walsh  being  absent  owing 
to  the  death  of  his  brother. 

GLOOMY  DAYS  FOR  THE  LEAGUE. 

In  almost  all  great  movements,  like  this  one  of 
the  Land  League,  there  comes  a  time  when  for  a 
brief  space  a  dangerous  sort  of  lethargy  or  list- 
lessness  pervades  not  only  the  rank  and  file  who 
form  its  main  strength,  but  also  it3  chiefs  or  lead- 
ers to  whom  the  6i  nox-Koi  look  for  inspiration  and 
encouraofement.  It  is  dangerous  from  the  fact 
that,  unless  prompt  and  energetic  measures  are 
set  about  to  counteract  its  effects,  an  apathy  fol- 
lows that  paralyzes  and  destroys  the  vitality  of 
the  subject  of  its  attack.  Disturbing  rum.ors,  some 
of  them  groundless,  others  with  a  slight  founda- 
tion of  truth  to  support  them,  conspire  to  aid  in 
the  apparently  impending  ruin.  So  it  was  in 
October,  1882,  with  this  grand  organization  that 
promised  so  well  at  its  outset  and  that  contrib- 
uted so  freely  and  liberally  at  all  times  and  on  all 
occasions  when  "  the  men  in  the  gap  "  called  on 
it  for  pecuniary  or  other  assistance.  Notwith- 
standing the  patient  and  arduous  labors  of  the 
national  officers,  many  of  the  largest  and  most 
influential  branches  disbanded — mostly,  however, 
diose  located  in  the  Western  States.     Some  of  the 


THE  GREAT   IRISH  STRUGGLE.  525 

staunchest  and  most  enthusiastic  "workers"  at 
the  Chicago  Convention  in  1881  became  luke- 
warm, and  those  who  were  looked  upon  as  their 
adherents,  followers  or  supporters — call  them 
what  you  may — failed,  firstly,  in  attendance  at  the 
meetings  of  their  respective  branches ;  secondly, 
allowed  their  "dues"  or  contributions  to  fall  in 
arrears  ;  and  thirdly  and  lastly,  manifested  an  evi- 
dently utter  indifference  to  the  prosperity  of  the 
League  that  was  as  dishearteninor  to  the  Central 
Council  as  it  certainly  must  have  been  to  the  Home 
Executive.  Public  attention  was  directed  to  the 
situation,  and  statements  were  made  by  a  number 
of  leading  journals  to  the  effect  that  "  the  Land 
League  was  dead." 

Undismayed  by  these  reports  and  rumors,  the 
council  bravely  continued  their  work  of  organiz- 
ing new  branches,  "  giving  heart "  to  the  branches 
that  had  remained  true  to  the  League,  and  dis- 
tributing circulars  and  also  weekly  copies  of 
United  Ireland,  a  newspaper  that  was  one  of  the 
best  recruiting  agents  they  could  have  used  at 
this  crisis.  By  persistent  work  they  were  finally 
successful  in  stemming  the  tide  which  had  set  in 
and  was  imperilling  the  life  of  the  organization. 
The  following  address  tells  its  own  story  of  the 
necessity  that  existed  for  the  council  to  speak 
out  plainly  to  the  American  people  and  to  those 
"  at  home,"  in  explanation  of  the  gloomy  aspect 
of  affairs : 


526  gladstone— parnell. 

"Irish  National  Land  League  of  America. 
Central  Office,  Buffalo,  October  9,  1882. 

"A  public  statement  has  been  made  that  '  the 
Land  League  is  no  longer  in  existence,'  which 
calls  for  our  emphatic  protest.  The  Land  League 
does  exist,  and  is  doing  just  as  good  work  for  Ire- 
land as  at  any  time  since  it  was  organized.  We 
should  deserve  the  contempt  of  every  one  whose 
sympathy  we  have  won ;  should  deserve  the  ex- 
tinction of  every  hope  that  has  been  enkindled,  if 
we  were  now  to  grow  discouraged,  or  to  withdraw 
when  the  work  is  but  fairly  begun.  Our  plan,  in 
all  that  has  been  done  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
has  been  to  follow  those  whom  we  recognize  as 
guides — the  leaders  in  Ireland — who,  being  on 
the  scene  of  action,  know  what  is  best  to  be  done. 
We  have  repeatedly  pledged  ourselves  to  uphold 
their  hands,  to  acquiesce  in  their  plans — not  to 
dictate  their  policy;  to  furnish  cheerfully  and 
generously  the  aid  without  which  they  would  be 
powerless  to  carry  out  their  designs. 

**  It  would  gratify  our  enemies  if  we  were  now 
to  abandon  the  struggle,  to  wantonly  throw  away 
the  fruit  of  so  much  sacrijfice  and  labor.  This  no 
true  friend  of  Ireland  will  for  a  moment  think  of. 
No  !  With  Parnell  at  its  head  the  Land  League 
.  still  lives — still  promises  hope  and  help  for  Ire- 
land. Rally  to  its  support.  Irishmen,  everywhere, 
who  have  ever  believed  in  its  purposes  or  gener- 
ously helped  on  its  struggle.     Let  no  one  mislead 


"  THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  527 

those  who  love  Ireland  into  despondency  or  faint- 
heartedness. Only  those  who  sow  disunion  and 
distrust  can  retard  the  final  triumph.  Hopeful  and 
united,  success  is  assured. 

"James  Mooney,  President. 
"Rev.  Lawrence  Walsh,   Treasurer. 
"John  J.  Hynes,  Secretary. 
"  Central  Council,  Irish  National  Land  League 
of  America." 

The  publication  of  "that  address  gave,  for  the 
moment,  some  ground  for  the  statements  of 
malicious  falsifiers  that  the  leaders  and  members 
of  secret  societies  of  one  sort  or  another  were 
uniting  in  a  general  conspiracy  to  sow  dissension 
in  the  ranks  of  the  Leaguers  and  thus  disrupt  the 
organization  when  its  substantial  support  was 
most  needed  to  aid  Mr.  Parnell  and  his  compa- 
triots in  their  gallant  battles  in  the  British  House 
of  Parliament  and  elsewhere  for  Ireland's  auton- 
omy. I  am  in  a  position  to  know  that  there  was 
not  a  particle  of  truth  in  any  of  those  reports. 
The  secret  society  men  were,  within  my  own 
knowledge,  frank  and  outspoken  in  their  more 
than  friendly  interest  both  in  the  welfare  of  the 
Land  League  and  of  its  objects. 

"We  have,"  said  they,  "one  common  end  in 
view,  although  we  are  trying  to  reach  it  by  differ- 
ent means.     We  believe  in  physical  force.     You 

believe  in   constitutional  amtation.     The  indica- 
81 


528  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

tions  are  that  possibly,  in  a  few  years,  success  will 
crown  your  efforts.  In  Parnell  you  have  a  great 
leader,  the  ablest  since  Daniel  O'Connell's  time. 
His  lieutenants  are  all  men  of  acknowledgfed 
ability,  purity  and  patriotism.  The  civilized  world 
looks  on  and  applauds  them  in  their  good  work. 
Go  on.  Do  your  part.  If  we  do  not  join  hands 
with  you,  we  will  7iot  iiiterfere  with  you! ^ 

This  spirit  was  shown  on  all  sides,  and  there 
ought  to  be,  there  can  be  no  hesitation  in  assert- 
ing that  these  secret-society  men  thus  proved 
themselves  to  be  true  friends  of  Ireland.  True 
in  this,  also,  that  they  thus  freely  gave  up  what  to 
them  was  a  principle — physical  force.  If  some 
among  them  were  desperate  men  who  preferred 
violent  measures  to  more  pacific  ones  for  the 
purpose  of  nationalizing  their  native  land,  the  suf- 
ferings which,  by  eviction  and  the  prison-cell,  they 
and  their  relatives  and  friends  had  endured  had 
made  them  so.  Their  wrongs  and  those  of  their 
country  had  fired  their  hearts,  and  they  had  made 
up  their  minds  to  retaliate.  To  them  "physical 
force "  seemed  the  only  proper  means  to  use. 
They  had  felt  its  effects  themselves,  and,  as  they 
grimly  remarked,  "  they  were  only  too  willing  to 
try  a  litde  of  its  effects  on  their  nation's  oppress- 
ors." With  them  vengeance  was  a  fixed  purpose, 
and  "  physical  force  "  the  means  of  accomplishing 
that  purpose.  They  wanted,  however,  above  all 
things,  to  see  Ireland  resume  her  place  among 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  520 

the  nations  of  the  earth.  When  they  saw  a  pros- 
pect of  that  glorious  event  through  the  Land 
League,  they  sheathed  the  sword,  and  gave  the 
Leaguers  their  hearty  support  and  countenance 
in  very  many  notable  instances. 

On  the  24th  of  October,  1882,  Secretary  Hynes 
issued  his  second  quarterly  report,  acknowledging 
contributions  amounting  to  ^13,81 2.71.  With  the 
balance  from  the  previous  quarter  and  this 
amount  Father  Walsh  transmitted  ^20,000  to 
Patrick  Egan  in  Paris,  who  took  especial  care 
that  all  funds  intrusted  to  him  for  the  Irish  cause 
were  most  judiciously  used. 

The  Dublin  Convention,  which  met  on  October 
17,  1882,  gave  renewed  hope  to  the  friends  of 
the  Land  League  in  America.  The  organization 
of  the  National  League  at  that  conference  led  to 
many  inquiries  as  to  whether  the  same  change 
should  take  place  in  the  United  States  and  Can- 
ada. The  office  of  the  Central  Council  was 
flooded  with  letters  from  branch  officers  and  others 
relating  to  this  matter.  Father  Walsh  was 
summoned  to  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  and  after  a  long 
consultation  with  his  colleagues,  it  was  decided  to 
issue  the  following  proclamation  : 

"Irish  National  Land  League  of  America. 
Central  Office,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  November  14, 
1882. 

"In  answer  to  inquiries  received  from  many  of 


530  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

the  Land  Leaofue  Branches  as  to  whether  we 
would  call  a  special  convention  to  rearrange  the 
plan  of  our  organization,  and  adopt  the  changes 
made  by  the  recent  National  Conference  held  in 
Dublin,  we  would  state  that,  in  our  opinion,  such 
a  call  is  unnecessary,  as  the  time  for  our  annual 
meeting  is  not  far  off,  and  as  the  changes  made 
in  Ireland,  and  rendered  necessary  by  the  strin- 
gent laws  in  operation  there,  do  not  materially 
affect  the  plan  or  spirit  of  our  league  here — save 
to  give  it  a  new  impetus  and  a  more  definite  pur- 
pose— the  programme  marked  out,  especially  the 
imperative  demand  for  self-governmentfor  Ireland, 
meriting  the  sanction  and  approval  of  all  sympa- 
thizers. Feeling  that  our  organization  is  in  entire 
accord  with  the  new  plans  of  the  Irish  leaders,  it 
seems  useless  to  incur  the  expense  of  an  extra 
convention,  or  to  put  members  to  the  incon- 
venience of  travelling  long  distances  to  attend 
one;  whatever  changes  are  necessary  can  be 
easily  deferred  until  the  time  of  our  annual 
meeting. 

"We  have  communicated  with  Mr.  Parnell,  as 
to  whether  there  is  any  necessity  of  changing  our 
organization,  and  if  so,  what  it  would  be  desirable 
to  alter.  There  has  not  been  time  to  receive  his 
suggestions  as  yet,  but  if  he  makes  any  of  impor- 
tance, they  will  be  submitted  to  the  branches  at  an 
early  date. 

"The  leaders  in  Ireland  have  expressed  their 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  531 

firm  reliance  upon  our  continued  support,  and 
their  hope  that  we  will  still  generously  uphold 
them,  as  we  have  done  in  the  past.  We  must  not, 
therefore,  relax  our  efforts,  nor  let  our  interest 
flag;  by  keeping  up  the  zealous  and  enthusiastic 
spirit  that  has  made  the  Land  League  so  great  an 
organization,  it  will  be  an  easy  matter  at  all  times 
to  fall  into  line  with  our  brethren  in  Ireland,  in 
whatever  efforts  they  are  making  to  bring  pros- 
perity and  justice  to  that  oppressed  and  misgov- 
erned land. 

"James  Mooney,  President, 
"Rev.  Lawrence  Walsh,  Treasurer. 
"John  J.  Hynes,  Secretary. 
"  Central  Council,  Irish  National  Land  League 
of  America." 

The  winter  of  1882-83  was  a  sad  and  miser- 
able one  for  unhappy  Ireland.  Famine  ravaged 
the  west  and  extreme  north  of  the  island,  and 
the  pitiful  petitions  of  the  wretched  inhabitants 
for  relief  were  unheeded  by  the  British  Govern- 
ment. The  cry  of  distress  reached  America,  and 
the  Central  Council  determined  to  make  one 
more  appeal  to  their  fellow-countrymen  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  for  the  famine  sufferers. 
Accordingly  the  following  address  was  issued  to 
the  Irishmen  of  America: 


532  gladstone— parnell. 

"Irish  National  Land  League  of  America. 
Central  Office,  19  Arcade  Building,  Buffalo, 
N.  v.,  February,  12,  1883. 

'•'To  the  Irish  National  Land  League  of  America 
— to  all  Irish-A7nericans :  It  was  the  intention  of 
the  Central  Council  of  the  Land  League  of  Amer- 
ica to  call  a  convention  of  that  body  during  the 
present  month  ;  but  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Parnell, 
the  time  for  holding  the  convention  has  been 
postponed  until  the  latter  part  of  April.  At  that 
time  Mr.  Parnell,  as  well  as  Mr.  Sexton,  the 
brilliant  orator  of  the  Irish  Parliamentary  Party, 
and  probably  Mr.  Egan,  the  late  faithful  Treasurer 
of  the  Land  League,  will  be  with  us.  We  desire 
to  welcome  these  distinguished  patriots  with  all 
the  honors  they  so  justly  merit ;  and  it  is  our 
earnest  hope,  therefore,  that  the  convention,  at 
which  they  are  to  be  present,  may  in  point  of 
numbers,  of  intelligence,  of  enthusiasm,  be  a  truly 
creditable  assembly  of  those  who  are  best  and 
most  worthily  representative  of  our  race  in 
America. 

"The  call  for  the  convention  will  now  be  Issued 
about  the  17th  of  March  next.  We  ask  the 
co-operation  of  all  Irishmen  in  our  efforts  to  make 
the  occasion  an  ovation  worthy  of  our  honored 
guests.  To  such  as  are  not  already  members  of 
the  League  we  extend  a  cordial  invitation  to  join 
the  branches  now  established,  or,  where  none 
exist,  to  form  new  ones,  and  communicate  with 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  533 

the  National  Secretary,  John  J.  Hynes,  No.  19 
Arcade  Building,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  as  soon  as  fifty 
members  have  been  secured,  when  they  will  be 
entitled  to  send  a  delegate  to  our  coming  conven- 
tion. We  exhort  every  branch  already  formed  to 
labor  zealously  to  increase  its  membership,  so  as 
to  be  entitled  to  send  more  than  one  represent- 
ative. Let  us  demonstrate  to  our  brave  leader 
and  his  confreres  that  our  sympathy  in  their  noble 
struggle  has  not  grown  cold. 

"We  have  likewise  a  plan  to  offer  to  all  whom, 
this  circular  may  reach — a  plan  for  the  relief  of 
the  suffering  Irish  of  the  famine-stricken  west — 
that,  it  seems  to  us,  must  meet  the  approval  of  all. 
Day  after  day  the  wail  of  their  misery  reaches  us, 
the  old,  sad  story  is  retold,  history  repeats  itself 
in  unhappy  Ireland.  Deadly  famine  ravages  the 
west  and  north,  the  tyrant  government  turns  piti- 
lessly from  the  petition  for  relief,  to  spend  its 
diabolical  energy  in  demoralizing  the  east  and 
south,  hatching  conspiracies,  bribing  informers, 
rewarding  perjurers,  immoladng  the  innocent.  It 
has  been  said  that  '  the  hat  would  never  ag^ain  be 
passed  for  Ireland,'  and  we  do  not  wish  to  break 
the  promise,  nor  do  we  deem  that  in  addressing 
ourselves  to  the  men  and  women  of  our  own  race 
alone,  we  are  doing  anything  contrary  to  its  spirit. 

"  Our  plan  is  that  between  this  date  and  that  of 
St.  Patrick's  Day,  every  Irish  man  and  woman  in 
America,  and   every   descendant   of  such,    shall 


534  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

contribute  the  sum  oi  07ie  dollar  to  a  special  fund 
for  relief  purposes  only.  To  make  this  a  truly 
popular  subscription  no  one  shall  be  allowed  to 
contribute  more  than  one  dollar,  and  none  less. 
Lists  will  be  opened  immediately  at  the  different 
Land  League  Branches,  and  moneys  received  by 
the  treasurers  ;  the  name  of  each  contributor  shall 
be  published  in  the  Irish-American  papers.  These 
moneys  shall  be  entirely  separate  from  the  Land 
League  Fund,  and  shall  be  transmitted  by  the 
Rev.  Lawrence  Walsh,  of  Waterbury,  Conn.,  the 
General  Treasurer  of  the  Irish  National  Land 
Leaeue  of  America,  to  the  famine-stricken  districts 
of  Ireland,  for  relief  purposes  only.  Contributors 
can,  if  so  minded,  forward  their  money  direct  to 
Father  Walsh.  We  ask  each  branch  to  hold  a 
final  meeting  on  St.  Patrick's  Day,  to  close  the 
subscription  to  this  fund.  Each  person  paying 
one  dollar  can,  if  he  or  she  desire  It,  be  enrolled 
as  a  member  of  the  Land  League,  said  contri- 
bution beinor  received  in  lieu  of  initiation  fee. 

"  By  this  plan  a  very  large  sum  can  easily  be 
obtained,  such  a  sum  as  will  be  an  inestimable 
blessing  to  the  famine  sufferers,  and  surely  no 
one  will  feel  the  giving  of  so  small  a  contribution. 
We  cannot,  in  this  happier  land,  be  unmindful  of 
our  starving  brethren  in  Ireland,  but  as  we  give 
v»re  can  resolve  to  do  all  In  our  power  to  render 
this  constant  alms-giving  unnecessary,  by  lending 
our  aid  to  those  at  home  who  fight  the  good  fight 


THE   GREAT   IRISH  STRUGGLE.  535 

against  accursed  landlordism,  and  its  train  of  evils. 
li  we  cannot  soften  their  hard  hearts,  we  can  agi- 
tate and  organize  against  those  alien  rulers,  whose 
unrighteous  laws  bring  on  this  misery,  and  who 
answer  the  prayer  of  the  starving  subject  by 
pointing  the  way  to  poverty-stricken  exile,  or  the 
degrading  workhouse. 

"James  Mooney,  President. 

"Rev.  Lawrence  Walsh,  Treasurer. 

"John  J.  Hynes,  Secretary. 
"  Central  Council,  Irish  National  Land  League 
of  America." 

The  response  to  this  appeal  was  generous. 
Father  Walsh  being  able  to  remit  ^23,652.06  to 
the  famine  districts.  This  amount,  it  must  be 
remembered,  was  exclusive  of  what  was  sent 
through  the  Boston  Pilot,  Irish  World,  and  other 
channels. 

On  January  2,  1883,  Secretary  Hynes'  third 
quarterly  report  showed  that  Father  Walsh  had 
received  and  transmitted  to  Paris  Leagj^ue  funds 
amounting  to  the  sum  of  ^8,743.88. 

In  the  beginning  of  March,  1883,  President 
Mooney  and  Secretary  Hynes  held  a  conference 
with  Hon.  Alexander  Sullivan  and  Col.  Michael 
Boland,  of  the  Committee  of  Seven  appointed  by 
the  Chicago  Irish  National  Convention  of  1881, 
and  Patrick  Egan,  ex-Treasurer  of  the  Irish  Na- 
tional Land   League,  who   had   arrived   in   this 


536  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

country  a  few  days  previously,  relative  to  the  pro- 
priety of  calling  a  convention  of  representatives 
from  all  Irish  societies  in  the  United  States  and 
Canada  for  the  purpose  of  forming  one  organiza- 
tion, similar  to  the  new  National  League  of  Ire- 
land, and  auxiliary  to  it. 

The  result  of  that  conference  was  the  issuing 
of  two  "  calls " — the  first  one  by  the  Central 
Council,  and  the  second  by  Mr.  Egan,  of  the 
League  of  Ireland,  Mr.  Mooney,  of  the  Irish- 
American  Land  League,  and  Col.  Boland,  of  the 
Chicago  Committee : 

"  Irish  National  Land  League  of  America. 
Central  Office,  19  Arcade  Building,  Buffalo, 
N.  Y.,  March  24,  1883. 

"  In  accordance  with  our  annual  custom,  and 
complying  with  the  provisions  of  our  constitu- 
tion, we  hereby  issue  a  call  to  the  several  branches 
composing  the  Irish  National  Land  League  of 
America,  for  a  General  Convention  of  that  body, 
to  be  held  in  Horticultural  Hall,  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia.  The  convention  will  open  on  Wed- 
nesday, April  25,  at  II  A.  m. 

"  Referring  to  our  constitution  it  will  be  seen 
that  it  provides  that :  '  The  convention  shall  con- 
sist of  delegates  from  the  several  branches  of  the 
oro'anization  in  jjood  standing  at  the  time  of  the 
report  next  preceding  the  call  for  such  convention. 
Each  branch  numbering  fifty  or  more  members  in 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  587 

good  Standing  at  the  time  of  such  report  shall  be 
entitled  to  one  delegate ;  and  each  branch  having 
three  hundred  or  more  members  at  the  time  of 
such  report  shall  be  entitled  to  an  additional 
member  for  each  two  hundred  members.  Each 
delegate  shall  be  provided  with  credentials,  signed 
by  the  president  and  secretary  of  the  branch 
which  he  represents,  on  blanks  to  be  furnished 
from  the  Central  Office.' 

"  It  is  now  decided  that  the  distinguished  Irish 
leader,  Charles  Stewart  Parnell,  with  one  or  more 
of  his  colleagues,  and  Patrick  Egan,  the  ex-Treas- 
urer of  the  Land  League,  will  honor  us  by  their 
presence.  To  give  them  such  a  welcome  and 
reception  as  they  deserve  will  alone  suffice  to 
call  out  the  fullest  strength  of  the  Land  League 
organization,  and  insure  its  best  efforts. 

"  Important  business  will  come  before  this  con- 
vention, on  which  the  future  usefulness  of  the 
League  will  depend,  and  its  closer  union  with  the 
broader  and  more  definite  aims  of  the  new  Na- 
tional Leaoue  in  Ireland. 

"  If  anything  more  were  needed — the  manifold 
woes  and  miseries  of  the  times  in  Ireland,  the 
famine  visitation,  the  cruel  mockery  of  law,  the 
heartless  emigration  schemes,  the  persistent  effort 
to  break  the  spirit  of  the  unhappy  people,  to 
thwart,  by  means  which  outrage  civilization  and 
humanity  alike,  everything  that  promises  any 
hope  for  their  uplifting — furnish  such  incentives 


538  GLADSTONE— PARNELL, 

for  a  grand  rally  of  the  friends  of  Ireland,  that  it 
is  needless  for  us  to  urge  all  members  of  the 
Land  League  to  be  active  and  earnest,  to  be 
ready  with  their  ablest  representatives  to  make 
the  comine  convention  the  most  memorable  and 
imposing  in  the  history  of  the  organization. 

"James  Mooney. 

"  Rev.  Lawrence  Walsh. 

"John  J.  Hynes. 
**  Central  Council,  Land  League  of  America." 

the    second    "  CALL." 

"Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  March  24,  1883. 

"The  undersigned,  representing  the  National 
League  of  Ireland,  the  Irish  National  Land  League 
of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  and  the  Com- 
mittee of  Seven  appointed  by  the  Irish  National 
Convention  held  at  Chicago,  hereby  call  an  Irish- 
American  National  Convention,  to  be  held  in 
Horticultural  Hall,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  at 
II  o'clock  a,  m.,  on  April  26,  1883,  for  the  follow- 
ing and  other  purposes : 

''First,  To  express  our  sympathy  with  the  suf- 
fering people  of  our  race,  who,  reduced  to  pov- 
erty by  iniquitous  laws  and  bad  harvests,  are  of- 
fered by  the  government  which  claims  their  al- 
legiance only  the  alternative  of  the  degradation 
of  the  workhouses  which  Thomas  Carlyle  called 
'human  swineries,'  or  exile  to  foreign  lands, 

''Second,  To  voice  the  horror  which  freemen  of 


THE   GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  539 

every  race  feel  on  beholding  a  peaceable,  indus- 
trious and  virtuous  nation  despoiled  by  force  of 
all  vestiges  of  constitutional  liberty ;  the  lives  of 
her  citizens  ruthlessly  sacrificed  on  the  paid  and 
perjured  testimony  of  self-confessed  villains;  her 
jury-box  packed  by  political  and  religious  bigotry  ; 
the  ermine  of  her  judicial  bench  thinly  concealing 
Castle  conspiracy  and  partisanship ;  the  functions 
of  government  within  her  confines  administered 
by  her  enemies  ;  and  all  her  national  and  political 
rights  obliterated  by  a  ferocious  coercion  act, 
whose  tyrannous  provisions  shock  civilization, 
engender  and  reward  crime,  and  justify  every 
legitimate  effort  of  an  exasperated  people  in 
resistino;  its  enforcement. 

''Third.  In  the  city  where  Irishmen  helped  lay 
the  foundations  of  American  liberty,  in  perpetua- 
tion of  which  the  blood  of  their  sons  has  been 
freely  poured,  to  declare,  on  behalf  of  the  exiled 
millions  of  our  race,  that  we  will  never  cease  our 
efforts  to  recover  for  our  motherland  the  God- 
given  and  inalienable  right  of  national  independ- 
ence ;  and,  that  these  efforts  may  be  guided, 
under  the  blessings  of  Heaven,  by  the  best  coun- 
sels of  all  our  people,  and  be  made  powerful  by 
their  combined  strength,  to  blend  into  one  organi- 
zation all  the  Irish  societies  of  the  United  States 
and  Canada,  the  new  organization  to  be  affiliated 
with  the  Irish  National  League  of  Ireland,  of 
which  Charles  Stewart  Parnell  is  the  President. 


540  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

"  The  basis  of  representation  will  be  one  dele- 
gate for  each  society  having  a  bona  fide  member- 
ship of  fifty,  and  not  more  than  one  hundred  per- 
sons ;  and  two  delegates  for  each  society  whose 
membership  exceeds  one  hundred.  All  Irish- 
American  temperance,  mutual  benefit,  charitable, 
literary,  military,  musical  and  patriotic  organiza- 
tions are  eligible  to  representation. 
"  Patrick  Egan, 
"  Of  National  League  of  Ireland. 

"James  Mooney, 
"President  Irish-American  Land  League. 

•'  Michael  Boland, 
"  Chairman  Committee  of  Seven." 

Here  comes  in  a  point  in  the  history  of  the 
Irish  movement  in  this  country  that  has,  through 
a  want  of  accurate  knowledge  on  the  part  of 
some,  been  the  cause  of  many  discussions — all  of 
them,  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  say,  of  a  friendly 
character.  I  refer  to  the  merging  of  the  Land 
into  the  National  League,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
settling  forever  all  doubts  on  that  topic  I  quote 
President  Mooney's  memoranda: 

"As  the  Land  League  in  Ireland,"  he  writes, 
"  was  now  changed  to  the  Irish  National  League, 
and  as  a  great  many  Irish  associations  in  this 
country  wished  to  join  in  organizing  an  Irish  Na- 
tional League  of  America  to  be  affiliated  to  the 
League    in    Ireland,    the    Central    Council    were 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  541 

urged  on  all  sides  to  make  the  call  for  a  conven- 
tion broad  enoucrh  to  take  in  all  who  wished  to 

o 

come,  but  as  officers  of  the  Irish  Land  League 
of  America  they  felt  it  a  bounden  duty  to  resign 
their  trust  into  the  same  hands  by  which  it  had 
been  confided  to  them,  and  to  allow  the  Land 
League  to  decide  by  ballot  whether  to  merge  in 
the  Irish  National  League  of  America  or  to  retain 
an  independent  existence.  So  the  Land  League 
Convention  was  called,  as  was  customary,  and 
held  its  sessions,  voting  to  become  a  part  of  the 
new  and  larp^er  organization. 

"  It  had  been  hoped  and  expected  that  Mr. 
Parnell  would  be  present  at  this  convention,  but, 
at  the  last  moment,  to  the  great  disappointment 
of  everybody,  he  was  unable  to  attend,  owing  to 
pressing  Parliamentary  duties.  Rumor  was  rife 
of  discord  and  dissension  that  was  to  mark  the 
convention,  and  it  was  falsely  said  that  Mr.  Par- 
nell feared  to  come  lest  something  misrht  be  said 
or  done  to  weaken  his  position  at  home. 

"When  the  Central  Council  reached  Philadel- 
phia they  found  quite  an  excitement  prevailing, 
and  could  only  with  difficulty  allay  the  fears  of 
some  timid  ones  or  the  forebodings  of  others 
that  'all  was  to  be  strife  and  discord,' " 

END  OF  THE  LAND  LEAGUE  OF  AMERICA. 

The  last  Convention  of  the  Irish  National  Land 
League  of  America  met  on  the  morning  of  April 


542  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

25,  1883,  in  Horticultural  Hall,  Philadelphia,  Pa., 
and  was  the  largest  that  this  organization  ever 
held.  There  were  present  468  delegates,  repre- 
senting 562  branches. 

An  unprejudiced  literary  man,  whose  official 
duties  called  him  to  the  convention,  wrote  thus  of 
its  personnel:  "The  composition  of  the  conven- 
tion was  rather  striking  to  the  casual  observer. 
Its  appearance  indicated  a  popular  make-up ;  but 
the  average  of  intelligence  and  respectability  was 
high,  owing  in  a  great  measure  to  a  large  clerical 
and  professional  representation  among  the  dele^ 
gates,  comprising  a  large  number  of  Roman 
Catholic  priests  and  gentlemen  M^ell  known  as 
journalists  or  literary  men  in  various  parts  of 
the  country."  The  bench,  the  bar  and  the  medi- 
cal profession  had  their  representatives,  who 
stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  cattle-kings  and 
extensive  farmers  from  the  far  West  and  the 
hard-working  element  of  the  Irish-American  peo- 
ple from  every  quarter  of  this  great  nation.  The 
intermingling  of  the  "  Orange  and  Green  "  colors 
in  tasteful  decorations  in  the  interior  of  the  hall 
was  the  silent,  yet  significant  warning  of  the 
Leaguers  to  all  outsiders  that  nevermore  did  they 
intend  to  allow  relisfious  differences  to  enter  into 
any  of  their  deliberations  or  to  mar  the  success 
of  the  sublime  cause  in  which  Irishmen  of  all 
creeds  were  unitedly  straining  every  energy  to 
foster  and  advance. 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  543 

President  Mooney  opened  the  proceedings 
with  a  well-digested  address,  delivering  it  with  a 
clearness  and  emphasis  that  gave  It  full  force 
with  his  hearers,  and  roused  the  warmest  enthu- 
siasm : 

The  permanent  officers  of  the  convention  were 
President  Mooney,  Secretary  Hynes,  and  William 
F.  Sheehan,  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  and  J.  D.  O'Con- 
nell,  of  Washington,  Assistant  Secretaries.  A 
Committee  on  Credentials  was  appointed,  consist- 
ing of  Judge  Rooney,  of  New  York  ;  Rev.  Luke 
V.  McCabe,  Philadelphia,  Pa. ;  John  J.  Power,  Con- 
necticut; Timothy  H.  O'Donovan,  Georgia;  M. 
T.  Maloney,  Illinois;  P.  J.  Sullivan,  Indiana;  M. 
V.  Gannon,  Iowa;  John  Fitzpatrick,  Kentucky; 
Dr.  W.  H.  Cole,  Maryland ;  M.  J.  Dawson, 
Michigan ;  C.  M.  Carney,  Minnesota ;  Chas. 
O'Brien,  Mississippi;  Thomas  Flatley,  Massachu- 
setts ;  John  A.  Gallagher,  Maine  ;  W.  H.  Gorman, 
New  Hampshire ;  Hon.  John  Fitzgerald,  Ne- 
braska ;  Hon.  W.  J.  Gleason,  Ohio ;  B.  J.  Patton, 
Rhode  Island  ;  W.  Mullen,  Vermont ;  Hon.  M.  F. 
Kennedy,  South  Carolina ;  Thomas  Moffit,  Ten- 
nessee ;  Patrick  McGovern,  Virginia ;  Dr.  Lytton 
Flynn,  Wisconsin  ;  Hon.  Thomas  Fitch,  Arizona. 

After  that  body  had  reported  through  its  big- 
hearted  chairman.  Judge  Rooney,  the  following 
remarkably  representative  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  consider  and  formulate  a  plan  for  re- 
organization as  the  National  Irish  League :  Arl- 

32 


544  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

zona,  James  Redpath ;  Connecticut,  James  Rey- 
nolds ;  Georgia,  Col.  James  F.  Armstrong ;  Illi- 
nois, Rev.  Maurice  J.  Dorney  ;  Indiana,  James  H. 
Allen  ;  Iowa,  M.  V.  Gannon  ;  Kentucky,  Matthew 
O'Doherty  ;  Louisiana,  Timothy  Maroney;  Mary- 
land, Col.  E.  T.  Joyce  ;  Michigan,  Rev.  Dr.  Charles 
O'Reilly;  Massachusetts,  Rev.  Father  T.  Conaty; 
Maine,  John  A.  Gallagher;  New  Hampshire, 
William  H.  Gorman  ;  Minnesota,  C.  M.  McCart- 
ney ;  Missouri,  Dr.  Thomas  O'Reilly ;  New  Jersey, 
John  H.  Sanderson;  New  York,  D.  C.  Feeley; 
Nebraska,  Hon.  John  Fitzgerald ;  Ohio,  Major 
John  Burns  ;  Pennsylvania,  Rev.  Thomas  Barry  ; 
Vermont,  William  Mullen ;  Rhode  Island,  Col.  F. 
L.  O'Reilly;  South  Carolina,  Hon.  Michael  F. 
Kennedy;  Virginia,  Patrick  McGowen;  Wiscon- 
sin, Joseph  G.  Donnelly ;  District  of  Columbia, 
Arthur  Rooney. 

The  annual  reports  of  Secretary  Hynes  and 
of  the  Treasurer,  Father  Walsh,  as  they  were 
read  before  the  convention  and  unanimously 
adopted  after  having  been  scrutinized  by  an 
auditinor  committee,  consisting  of  Rev.  Dr. 
O'Reilly,  Michigan,  Dr.  Casey,  of  New  York, 
and  Thomas  H.  Doherty,  of  Massachusetts,  are 
valuable  as  historic  documents,  showing,  as  they 
do,  the  payments  made  by  the  treasurer  for  cer- 
tain expenses  that  were  some  time  previously  dis- 
puted by  a  few  mischief-makers,  the  actual  number 
of  branches  in  existence  in  each  State,  and  the 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  547 

amount  of  money  credited  to  each  State  and  Ter- 
ritory during  the  last  year  of  the  life  of  the  Land 
Leaorue. 

Secretary  Hynes  read  his  statement  in  loud, 
clear  tones,giving  short  explanations  of  the  details 
where  they  seemed  to  be  necessary.  He  said 
that  if  the  list  of  the  branches  and  their  officers 
was  not  absolutely  correct  or  complete,  it  was  not 
the  fault  of  the  central  officers,  but  was  because 
of  the  failure  of  the  various  secretaries  to  keep 
them  posted  as  to  the  details  of  the  work  of  the 
branches.  In  his  record  the  secretary  stated  that 
he  had  received  official  reports  from  608  branches, 
105  had  disbanded  during  the  year  and  8;^  new 
ones  had  been  formed.  The  previous  roll  con- 
tained nearly  900  branches,  of  which  number  298 
had  failed  to  make  any  report  to  the  central 
office.  "There  are  now  on  the  roll  559  branches 
of  the  existence  of  which  the  secretary  has  official 
knowledge.  These  are  divided  up  as  follows : 
Colorado,  i;  California,  i;  Connecticut,  49'; 
Georgia,  2;  Illinois,  11;  Indiana,  5;  Iowa,  23; 
Kansas,  I ;  Kentucky,  8  ;  Louisiana  2;  Maryland, 
7;  Mississippi,  i;  Missouri,  13;  Michigan,  13; 
Minnesota,  8;  Massachusetts,  140;  Maine,  30; 
New  York,  130;  New  Jersey,  19;  New  Hamp- 
shire, 10;  Nevada,  i;  Nebraska,  2;  Ohio,  14; 
Pennsylvania,  44 ;  Rhode  Island,  13;  South  Car- 
olina, I ;  Texas,  i  ;  Virginia,  2 ;  Vermont,  3 ; 
Wisconsin,  5  ;  Tennessee,  i  ;    District  of  Colum- 


548  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

bia,  3 ;  Prince  Edward's  Island,  9 ;  New  Bruns- 
wick, i;  Nova  Scotia,  i:  Total,  559.  Of  the  298 
of  which  the  secretary  had  no  official  knowledge, 
69  were  accredited  to  Massachusetts,  30  to  New 
York,  29  to  Pennsylvania,  25  to  Connecticut,  and 
10  to  New  Jersey." 

The  secretary's  financial  statement  showed  that 
the  receipts  from  the  Land  League  Branches  had 
been  ^61,976.27,  of  which  ^45,251.70  was  for  Land 
League  purposes,  and  ^16,724.57  for  the  relief 
fund.  The  amounts  from  the  States,  etc.,  were 
as  follows:  Connecticut,  ^6,306.10;  California, 
^140;  Colorado,  $200;  Georgia,  ^836;  Illinois, 
^263.75  ;  Indiana,  $107.02  ;  Iowa,  $1,354.27  ;  Kan- 
sas, $12.60;  Kentucky,  $1,520.50;  Louisiana, 
$66;  Massachusetts,  $15,721.52;  Maine,  $351.98; 
Maryland,  $1,047 ;  Michigan,  $383.50;  Missouri, 
$261.30;  Mississippi,  $12.30;  Minnesota,  $126; 
New  York,  $19,892.71;  New  Jersey,  $1,916.73; 
New  Hampshire,  $321.99;  Nebraska,  $43;  Ne- 
vada, $200;  Ohio,  $1,253.35;  Pennsylvania, 
$6,384.25;  Rhode  Island,  $1,499.40;  South  Car- 
olina, $376;  Texas,  $70;  Vermont,  $62.55;  Vir- 
ginia, $140;  Tennessee,  $29.35;  Wisconsin, 
$234.80;  District  of  Columbia,  $234.50;  Prince 
Edward's  Island,  $235  ;  New  Brunswick,  $326.90, 
and  Canada,  $45.90. 

In  addition  to  this  sum  $4,182.12  was  received 
from  lectures,  donations,  etc.,  and  $6,004.49  from 
the  "  dollar  subscription,"  which,  with  the  balance 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  549 

of  ^6,876.02  from  1882,  made  a  grand  total  of 
^79,038.90.  Of  this  sum  Patrick  Egan  received 
^27,102;  C.  S.  Parnell,  1,12,903.10,  and  Alfred 
Webb,  $3,000.  There  was  sent  to  the  famine  dis- 
tricts $23,652.06.  Miss  Parnell's  funeral  required 
an  expenditure  of  $1,335.09,  which  was  paid  to 
J.  J,  Nolan,  and  $4,291,24  was  expended  for  the 
running  expenses  of  the  Land  League,  and 
$1,875  went  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  lecturers, 
Messrs.  Michael  Davitt,  A.  M.  Sullivan  and  Wil- 
liam Redmond.  The  total  disbursements  were 
$74,123.40,  leaving  a  balance  of  $4,915,50. 

In  reply  to  a  question  for  information  as  to  the 
expenditure  for  lectures.  Secretary  Hynes  stated 
that  the  gentlemen  had  given  their  services  with- 
out char/re,  and  that  it  was  no  more  than  right 
that  their  expenses  should  be  paid. 

Father  Walsh  gave  substantially  the  same 
report  as  given  above,  with  the  addition  of  the 
information  that  he  had  remitted  to  Ireland 
$62,754.06,  of  which  $39,102  was  for  the  Land 
League,  and  $23,652.06  for  the  Relief  Fund.  Of 
the  latter  sum,  $17,475.97  came  from  the  Land 
League  Branches,  and  the  balance  from  the 
"  dollar  subscription."  A  detailed  statement 
showing  to  whom  in  Ireland  such  payment  for  the 
Relief  Fund  was  sent,  was  also  submitted. 

The  reading  of  the  following  telegram  at  this 
point  in  the  deliberations  was  received  with 
applause: 


{i50  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

"James  Mooney,  President  Land  League  Con- 
vention :  Greeting  from  Halifax.  Let  your  de- 
liberations be  for  the  good  of  Ireland,  and  we  will 
endorse  you." 

After  an  address  from  Thomas  Brennan,  of 
Ireland,  in  which  he  urged  the  delegates  to  "let 
self-effacement  rule  and  personal  predilections  be 
sacrificed  to-night,  as  they  will  be  to-morrow,  on 
the  altar  of  Irish  unity,"  Father  Conaty  made  a 
verbal  report  from  the  Committee  on  Organiza- 
tion. He  said  it  had  decided  not  to  recommend 
any  plan  to  the  convention,  but,  as  a  Committee 
on  Resolutions,  recommended  the  adoption  of  the 
following: 

''Resolved,  That  we  heartily  endorse  the  princi- 
ples and  objects  adopted  and  declared  by  the 
National  Conference  held  in  the  Ancient  Concert 
Rooms  in  Dublin,  on  the  17th  day  of  October,  1882, 
and  pledge  our  earnest  support  to  the  Irish 
National  League  there  established. 

"That,  in  response  to  the  call  for  an  Irish-Amer- 
ican National  Convention,  to  be  held  in  this  hall 
to-morrow,  and,  in  view  of  the  prospect  that  the 
deliberations  of  that  convention  will  result  in  the 
union  of  all  patriotic  Irish  bodies  on  the  continent 
which  favor  the  present  Irish  policy,  in  a  new 
organization  supporting  the  National  League  of 
Ireland,  the  delegates  to  this  convention  attend 
in   a  body   the  sessions   of  said   Irish-American 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  551 

National  Convention,  and  assist  in  promoting  tlie 
union." 

A  lengthy  debate  ensued,  and  while  the  mover 
of  a  resolution  providing  for  the  appointment  of 
a  Committee  of  Seven  to  act  upon  the  dissolution 
of  the  Land  League  of  America  and  the  amalga- 
mation with  the  Irish  National  League  was  placing 
his  motion  on  paper,  Patrick  Egan  was  introduced. 
The  appearance  of  the  Land  League's  treasurer 
was  the  signal  for  the  most  enthusiastic  demon- 
stration that  had  been  seen  since  the  oro^anization 
of  the  convention  in  the  early  morning.  The 
majority  of  the  delegates  jumped  to  their  feet, 
threw  their  hats  in  the  air  and  continued  the 
cheering  and  applause  for  several  minutes.  After 
expressing  his  gratification  at  meeting  so  many 
members  of  the  American  Land  League  and  being 
able  to  thank  them  in  person  for  the  help  they  had 
given  the  people  "at  home"  in  their  fight  against  the 
landlord  garrison,  he  said  the  land  movement  had 
been  carried  on  on  purely  constitutional  grounds; 
nothing  had  been  used  but  moral  forces,  and  no 
weapon  except  the  organized  power  of  public 
opinion.  The  English  journals  had  repeatedly 
charged  that  the  Land  League  was  responsible 
for  crime  in  Ireland,  and  a  good  many  well-dis- 
posed Americans  had  accepted  this  statement  as 
true.  In  refutation  of  this,  he  quoted  some  figures. 
In  1879  homicides  in  Ireland  numbered  4;  in  1848, 
a  period  of  distress  also,  there  were  171.     In  iSSo 


552  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

there  were  5;  in  1849,  203.  Referring  to  the 
Land  League  funds,  Mr.  Egan  said:  "Since  the 
formation  of  the  League  there  have  passed 
through  my  hands,  for  the  rehef  of  distress,  $245,- 
000.  I  have  received  from  all  sources,  for  Land 
League  purposes,  ^985,000,  making  in  all  ^1,230,- 
000.  Of  that  sum  nearly  a  million  dollars  came 
from  the  Irish  in  America.  That  of  course  includes 
the  amount  received  for  distress,  the  amount 
received  from  Father  Walsh,  from  the  /^■'is/i  World 
and  other  sources.  Whatever  benefits  the  Land 
League  had  produced  for  the  country,  and,  as  Mr. 
Brennan  had  said,  it  had  brought  about  a  reduc- 
tion of  twenty  million  dollars  per  year  in  rent,  it 
had  also  given  some  security  to  the  farmers,  and 
consequently  immunity  from  landlord  tyranny. 
With  regard  to  the  expenditure  of  that  amount  of 
money  I  am  proud  to  say  that  no  man,  woman  or 
child,  who  ever  subscribed  one  penny  to  the  fund, 
has  ever  raised  any  question.  Some  avowed 
enemies  of  our  race  and  some  disappointed  black- 
mailers have  attempted  to  make  themselves  heard, 
but  without  avail.  After  the  Chicago  Convention 
I  addressed  a  letter  to  a  member  of  the  Commit- 
tee of  Seven  appointed  by  that  convention,  sug- 
gesting that  if  you,  here  in  America,  would 
appoint  an  auditing  committee  of  two  or  three,  in 
whom  you  here  and  we  at  home  would  have 
implicit  confidence,  then  I  and  my  co-trustees  of 
the  fund  would  o-ive  to  that  committee  most  entire 


THE.  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  653 

satisfaction  with  respect  to  the  outlay  of  every 
penny  of  that  fund.  The  committee  decided  that 
they  would  not  act  on  that  proposal.  Before  I 
left  Paris,  however,  I  insisted,  for  my  own  protec- 
tion, that  an  auditing  committee  should  be  appoint- 
ed, consisting-  of  Rev.  Father  Sheehy,  Mr,  John 
Dillon  and  Mr.  Matthew  Harris,  that  committee 
auditing  every  item  in  my  account,  and  to  nobody 
outside  of  that  committee  did  I  feel  bound  to  give 
any  satisfaction.  I  refer  now  to  the  newspapers 
which  are  so  anxious  to  get  at  our  affairs,  and  who 
are  our  enemies  in  England." 

A  hot  debate  on  the  motion  to  appoint  a  Com- 
mittee of  Seven  was  ended  by  Rev.  Father 
Thomas  Barry  having  the  roll  called  to  decide 
the  matter.  The  result  was  the  appointment  of 
the  following:  Andrew  Brown,  of  Missouri; 
General  Patrick  A.  Collins,  of  Boston;  Rev. 
Patrick  Cronin,  of  New  York ;  Hon.  M.  V.  Gannon, 
of  Iowa;  Rev.  Dr.  Chas.  O'Reilly,  of  Detroit;  Rev. 
Maurice  J.  Dorney,  of  Chicago  ;  and  Col.  John  F. 
Armstrong,  of  Georgia.  This  virtually  was  the 
end  of  the  Land  League  in  America,  and  the  con- 
vendon  adjourned  at  25  minutes  past  i  o'clock  on 
the  morning  of  April  26,  after  having  been  in 
continuous  session,  with  the  exception  of  two 
very  brief  recesses,  from  1 1  o'clock  on  the  pre- 
vious mornine. 

Here,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the  proper  place  in 
which  to  speak  of  the  life  and  services  of  the 


554  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

faithful  treasurer  of  the  Land  League,  Rev.  Law- 
rence Walsh,  whose  death  occurred  on  Thursday, 
January  3,  1884.  A  zealous,  efficient  and  worthy 
priest  of  God,  the  cause  of  Irish  emancipation  and 
of  temperance  lost  in  him  a  prudent,  disinterested 
and  earnest  champion.  Priest  and  patriot,  all 
who  knew  him  revered  and  loved  him.  Rev.  S. 
Byrne,  O.  S.  D.,  one  of  his  closest  friends,  writing 
his  panegyric,  says:  "The  3d  of  January,  1884, 
will  be  long  remembered  in  the  grateful  and 
sorrowful  hearts  of  the  Irish  race  on  both  sides 
of  the  Adantic.  One  of  their  truest,  bravest, 
most  persistent  and  successful  leaders  and  friends 
was  called  from  among  them  on  that  day.  Father 
Lawrence  Walsh  is  now  known  very  generally  as 
the  late  treasurer  of  the  'Land  League  of  the 
United  States;'  but  his  intimate  friends  and  his 
hosts  of  honest  admirers  knew  him  besides  as  one 
of  the  most  religious,  intelligent  and  gifted  priests 
in  these  States  or  in  the  world. 

"  Endowed  by  nature  with  a  splendid  physical 
frame  and  a  bright  intellect,  he  early  In  life  con- 
ceived the  happy  thought  of  consecrating  to  his 
Maker's  service  the  elfts  with  which  he  was  so 
liberally  provided.  In  this  sentiment  he  entered 
the  Seminary  of  the  Sulplclans,  in  Maryland,  and 
was  ordained  a  priest  of  his  native  diocese  of 
Hartford  in  1S66.  The  first  interview  between 
him  and  the  writer  of  this  brief  notice  was  In  the 
spring  of  1868,  and  the  writer  is  glad  to  say  that 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  555 

a  friendship  was  then  formed  which  death  alone 
could  break.  Father  Walsh  was  then  young  in 
the  priesthood,  and  a  young  man,  too,  counting 
his  years.  But  his  serious  and  exact  views  of 
all  questions  to  which  he  turned  his  attention,  his 
deliberate  method  of  weig^hinof  his  reasons  for 
convictions,  his  enthusiasm  in  clinging  to  what  he 
beHeved  to  be  right,  were  even  then  prominent 
traits  of  his  character.  He  soon  became  pastor 
of  St.  Peter's  Church,  Hartford,  and,  after  a  few 
years,  of  the  important  and  spirited  congregation 
of  Waterbury,  in  the  same  State  of  Connecticut. 
Early  in  1880,  a  deep  wail  of  sorrow  and  want 
was  wafted  across  the  Atlantic  wave  to  our  gen- 
erous shores  from  the  native  island  of  Father 
Walsh's  ancestors.  It  failed  not  to  awaken  in 
his  brave  heart  an  immediate  and  sympathetic 
response.  Few  men  on  this  continent  were  better 
acquainted  with  the  history  of  Ireland  than  Father 
Walsh.  He  knew  by  heart  the  long  record  of 
her  bitter  grievances,  the  history  of  her  greatest 
men,  and  especially  of  St.  Lawrence  O'Toole,  the 
sainted  bishop  who  boldly  raised  the  standard  o^ 
armed  resistance  against  the  robbers  of  his 
nation's  honor  and  the  murderers  of  her  life. 
The  good  and  holy  priest  of  New  England  was 
deeply  moved  at  the  idea  that  even  in  this  nine- 
teenth century,  an  age,  they  say,  of  civilization  and 
mercy  to  the  poor,  the  peasantry  of  Ireland  should 
be  again  the  victims  of  artificial  famine,  which 


556  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

their  rulers  could  readily  have  prevented  or 
remedied.  He  threw  himself,  therefore,  with  his 
whole  soul  into  the  movement  inaugurated  by 
Ireland's  honored  son,  Charles  Stewart  Parnell, 
thinking  it  to  be  the  best  thing  for  Ireland,  under 
all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  that  had  been 
started  in  this  second  half  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. How  the  dear,  good  and  noble  priest 
labored  and  toiled  to  unite  in  this  noble  and  grand 
movement  the  purest  and  best  spirits  of  his  race 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  is  a  very  important 
part  of  its  history.  Father  Walsh's  unselfish  and 
gallant  part  in  it  will  stand  out  through  all  time  as 
a  bright  beacon-light  to  guide  the  footsteps  of 
all  honest  lovers  of  Ireland  and  haters  of  her  task- 
masters, whether  lay  or  clerical.  But  he  lies  in 
the  grave  in  his  native  city  of  Providence — a  city 
founded  on  the  principles  of  resistance  to  bigotry 
and  wrong  in  1635 — and  the  children  of  Erin  at 
home  and  abroad  will  build  his  monument  and 
breathe  over  his  grave  a  deep  and  fervent  prayer 
for  the  eternal  rest  of  his  blessed  soul ;  and,  in 
thinking  of  his  life-work,  they  will  become  braver, 
more  united,  and  better  men.  May  the  rest  of  the 
saints  be  his  portion  forever." 

BIRTH  AND  GROWTH  OF  THE  IRISH  NATIONAL  LEAGUE 
OF   AMERICA. 

In  the  Spring  of  1883  a  new  era  in  the  history 
of  the  Irish  cause  in  America  was  inaugurated  at 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  557 

Philadelphia,  Pa.  The  Land  League  had  been 
suppressed  in  Ireland.  The  national  spirit,  more 
alive  in  consequence  of  the  tyranny  of  the  Coer- 
cion Act,  had  organized  the  National  League  as 
the  successor  of  its  formidable  and  hard-working, 
but  now  extinguished  predecessor.  The  fore- 
going pages  of  this  work  have  shown  how  the 
Irish-Americans,  resolved  to  stand  by  Charles 
Stewart  Parnell  in  the  new  move  which  he  and 
his  able  compatriots  in  Ireland  had  determined 
upon,  had  taken  the  decisive  steps  of  dissolving 
the  Irish  Land  League  of  America,  and  appointing 
a  committee  empowered  to  merge  it  into  a  new 
and  more  vigorous  organization,  bearing  the  same 
title  and  with  the  same  aims  and  objects  as  the 
newly  created  body  "  at  home."  The  body  of 
men  and  women  who  formed  this  new  confedera- 
tion met  in  Hordcultural  Hall,  Philadelphia,  on 
the  morning  of  April  26,  1883,  ^^""^  so  representa- 
tive were  they,  that  the  newspapers  of  the  country 
by  common  consent  styled  the  assemblage 

THE    IRISH    RACE    IN    CONVENTION. 

More  than  twelve  hundred  delegates  were 
present,  representing  thirty-two  States  and  Terri- 
tories and  Canada.  Australia  w^as  also  repre- 
sented in  the  person  of  two  delegates,  Revs. 
William  Slattery  and  John  Gallagher.  It  was 
undoubtedly  the  largest  body  ever  assembled  on 
this  continent  for  any  political  purpose,  and  its 


558  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

personnel  was  equally  as  high  as  that  of  the 
smaller  body  which  met  on  the  previous  day  in 
the  same  hall.  The  deliberations  of  the  conven- 
tion concentrated  the  attention  of  the  country  at 
large  upon  it  from  the  opening  of  its  first  session 
to  the  end  of  the  last  one.  The  leading  news- 
papers of  England,  Ireland,  Scotland  and  France 
had  a  corps  of  intelligent  correspondents,  noting 
its  transactions  for  the  information  of  their  read- 
ers, and  cabling  the  discussions  and  actions  of  the 
delegates.  Every  journal  of  any  prominence  in  the 
United  States,  and  many  in  Canada,  had  lengthy 
and  detailed  reports  telegraphed  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  every  session.  Some  of  them  anticipated 
" a  ruction  " among  the  delegates, under  the  impres- 
sion that  O'Donovan  Rossa  or  some  of  his  friends 
would  *'  raise  trouble,"  and  their  managing  editors 
in  several  instances  telegraped  to  their  reporters 
or  correspondents  instructing  them  to  "  write  up 
the  shindy  at  length."  At  no  time  was  there  any 
"  trouble,"  or  even  any  likelihood  of  it,  and  the 
American  press,  without  exception,  passed  the 
highest  encomiums  upon  the  convention  after  its 
adjournment. 

The  keynote  of  the  convention  and  of  the  new 
era  was  struck  b}^  the  Hon.  Alexander  Sullivan, 
of  Illinois,  in  a  short  but  singularly  comprehensive 
speech,  calling  the  gathering  to  order.  Slender 
of  frame,  a  spare  and  youthful-looking  man  with 
a  quiet,  strong  face  that  would  attract  attention  to 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  559 

itseirin  any  assemblage  of  distinguished  men,  the 
leader  of  his  race  in  America,  sensitive  as  a 
woman,  brave  as  the  most  gallant  and  soldierly 
of  his  race,  his  appearance  was  received  with  a 
storm  of  applause.  "The  duty  of  formally  open- 
ing this  convention,"  said  he,  "  has  been  assigned 
to  me  by  the  distinguished  gendemen  whose 
names  are  appended  to  the  call.  When  we 
behold  the  personal  magnitude  of  this  assem- 
blage ;  when  we  consider  the  geographical  area 
from  which  it  has  been  spontaneously  drawn ; 
when  we  contemplate  ijie  intensity  of  the  passion 
which  animates  it  for  the  sole  object  we  have  in 
view,  and  the  diversity  of  honest  opinion  concern- 
ing the  methods  by  which  that  object  may  be  ac- 
complished, it  is  meet  that  we  should,  on  the 
very  threshold  of  our  debates,  invoke  Him  in 
whose  hands  are  the  destinies  of  the  nations,  that 
our  proceedings  may  be  characterized  by  wisdom, 
toleration  and  prudence ;  that  they  may  result 
in  that  actual  unity  which  alone  will  insure  sub- 
stantial progress  in  securing  justice  for  our 
motherland. 

"We  hold  the  anomalous  position  of  being  the 
only  fairly  and  freely  chosen  Parliament  which 
may  assemble  to  consider  the  welfare  of  a 
wretchedly  oppressed,  plundered  and  misgov- 
erned people ;  and  we  are  restrained  at  the  same 
time  from  stepping  outside  the  functions  of  auxil- 
iaries to  the  patriots  who  are  heroically  struggling 


560  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

at  home,  and  in  an  alien  and  hostile  legislature,  in 
the  vain  hope  of  awakening  the  long-suspended 
conscience  of  a  powerful  and  brutal  foe.  How 
great  are  the  possibilities,  how  great  the  respon- 
sibilities of  this  convention !  We  have  met, 
neither  on  the  one  hand  to  dictate  to  our  breth- 
ren in  Ireland  in  anything,  nor  on  the  other  hand 
to  apologize  to  their  and  our  common  enemy  for 
anything.  We  have  met  to  organize  and  con- 
centrate all  the  forces  of  our  race,  that  their  united 
strength  shall  be  made  potential  in  our  national 
struggle.  W^e  have  met  to  solidify  all  the  ele- 
ments of  our  national  sympathy,  that  hereafter 
there  shall  be  an  authorized  body  to  speak,  not 
for  a  party,  not  for  a  man,  but  for  united,  exiled 
Ireland.  We  have  met  to  tell  our  brethren  in  Ire- 
land that  it  is  theirs  to  choose  the  road  which  leads 
to  liberty,  and  ours  to  march  with  them  upon  it. 
The  racial  blood  that  flows  in  our  veins  shall  feel 
the  same  pulse-beat  as  theirs ;  and  that  beat  shall 
be  as  firm  and  as  steady  as  the  tap  of  the  drum 
on  the  morning  of  battle. 

"That  we  may  have  upon  our  deliberations  the 
approval  of  Almighty  God,  and  of  all  just  men 
who  love  liberty,  we  must  show  In  this,  the  Par- 
liament of  our  race,  assembled  in  the  City  of 
Brotherly  Love,  that  every  party  Is  less  than  the 
cause,  that  every  Individual  Is  esteemed  below  our 
country,  and  that  every  Irishman  is  a  brother." 

On  the  motion  of  Rev.  Dr.  George  C.  Betts,  a 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  561 

Protestant  Episcopalian  rector  from  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  Rev.  M.  J.  Dorney,  a  Roman  Catholic  pastor 
of  Chicago,  III.,  was  elected  temporary  chairman. 
Committees  on  credentials,  resolutions  and  per- 
manent organization  were  appointed,  a  delegate 
from  each  State  and  Territory  serving  on  each 
committee.  While  these  committees  were  de- 
liberating in  different  ante-rooms  addresses  were 
made  by  Rev.  Dr.  Betts,  Fathers  Cronin,  Gal- 
lagher and  Slattery,  and  the  following  telegram 
was  read  from  William  McCready,  of  Louisville, 
Ky.: 

"  Sons  of  Erin — Patriots  :  Ireland's  hopes  are 
centred  in  you  ;  sink  all  differences  for  her  sake  ; 
unfurl  a  stainless  banner  with  'Irish-American 
National  League '  inscribed  thereon,  and  Erin's 
deliverance  will  soon  be  won." 

The  permanent  officers  of  the  convention 
were: 

President,  Hon.  M.  A.  Foran,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

Secretary,  John  J.  Hynes,  Esq.,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Assistant  Secretaries :  John  J.  Enright,  Michi- 
gan ;  Edward  Fitzwilliams,  Massachusetts  ;  Cor- 
nelius Morgan,  Pennsylvania;  J.  D.  O'Connell, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

Vice-Presidents :  Patrick  Egan,  Ireland ;  Rev. 
M.  J.  Masterson,  Massachusetts ;  M.  D.  Ryan, 
Colorado  ;  Edward  Tobin,  Montreal,  Canada ; 
James  Reynolds,  Connecticut;  John  H.  Parnell, 

33 


562  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Georgia ;  John  Carroll,  Indiana ;  Dr.  William  B. 
Wallace,  New  York ;  C.  J.  Smyth,  Nebraska  ; 
Rev.  J.  M.  Mackay,  Ohio ;  Hon.  T.  V.  Powderly, 
Pennsylvania;  Joseph  Mullen,  Rhode  Island; 
W.  J.  O'Connor,  South  Carolina ;  Hon.  Thomas 
Fitch,  Arizona ;  Patrick  McGovern,  Virginia ; 
Hon.  J.  C.  Corrigan,  Wisconsin ;  Captain  E. 
O'Meagher  Condon,  District  of  Columbia ;  C.  J. 
Wheeler,  Vermont ;  William  Condon,  Delaware  ; 
John  McAteer,  Kentucky;  Timothy  Crean,  Illi- 
nois ;  John  Fitzpatrick,  Louisiana ;  James  Doyle, 
Maryland;  Hon.  M.  V.  Gannon,  Iowa;  Rev. 
Charles  O'Reilly,  Michigan;  C.  M.  McCarthy, 
Minnesota;  Dr.  Thomas  O'Reilly,  Missouri;  John 
Hayes,  New  Hampshire ;  John  J.  Berry,  New 
Jersey ;  Rev.  Wm.  Slattery,  Timora,  Australia ; 
Rev.  John  Gallagher,  Australia ;  Mrs.  Delia  T.  S. 
Parnell,  Ladies'  League  of  America. 

Declarine  that  "  it  is  time  we  had  a  unification 
of  Irish  societies,"  Chairman  Foran  opened  the 
real  business  of  the  convention  with  the  asser- 
tion ;  "  We  never  shall  be  satisfied  so  long  as  the 
meanest  cottager  in  Ireland  has  a  link  of  the 
British  chain  clanking  on  his  limbs.  He  may  be 
in  rags,  he  shall  not  be  in  irons."  At  the  conclu- 
sion of  his  address  the  following  cablegram  from. 
Mr.  Parnell  was  read: 

"  To  James  Mooney,  President  of  Irish  Con- 
vention^   Philadelphia.      London,  April  26:    My 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  663 

presence  at  the  opening  of  the  most  representa- 
tive convention  of  Irish-American  opinion  ever 
assembled  being  impossible,  owing  to  the  neces- 
sity of  my  remaining  here  to  oppose  the  Criminal 
Code  Bill,  which  re-enacts  permanently  the  worst 
provisions  of  the  Coercion  Act,  and  which,  if 
passed,  will  have  the  effect  of  placing  the  consti- 
tutional movement  at  the  mercy  of  the  British 
Government,  I  would  ask  you  to  lay  my  views 
before  the  convention,  and  would  advise  that  a 
platform  shall  be  so  framed  as  to  enable  us  to 
continue  to  accept  help  from  America,  and  avoid 
affording  any  pretext  to  the  British  Government 
for  entirely  suppressing  the  national  movement 
in  Ireland,  In  this  way  only  can  unity  of  move- 
ment be  preserved  in  both  Ireland  and  America. 
I  have  perfect  confidence  that  by  prudence,  moder- 
ation and  firmness,  the  cause  of  Ireland  will  con- 
tinue to  advance,  and  that,  though  persecution 
rests  heavily  upon  us  at  present,  before  many 
years  shall  have  passed  we  shall  have  achieved 
those  great  objects  for  which  for  so  many  years 
our  race  has  struo-^led, 

"  Charles  Stewart  Parnell." 

Stirring  addresses  were  made  by  Rev.  Fathers 
Agnew,  of  Scotland  (Father  Agnew  is  now  sta- 
tioned in  Chicago,  Illinois),  and  John  Boylan,  of 
Ireland.  The  latter's  speech,  full  of  fire  and  ring- 
ing eloquence,  aroused  his  hearers  to  the  highest 


664  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

pitch  of  enthusiasm.  He  said  he  felt  proud  to  be 
called  upon  by  such  an  assemblage,  representing 
the  rank,  intelligence  and  public  spirit  of  his  race 
in  this  land,  and  composed  of  men  who  had 
learned  the  language  of  freedom,  knew  the  power 
of  free  speech,  felt  that  there  was  a  glorious 
future  dawning  for  Ireland,  and  appreciated  the 
fact  that  it  is  only  by  sincere  unity  and  indomita- 
ble bravery  that  victories  are  won.  The  past 
emigration  from  Ireland  had  been  productive  of 
good.  The  exiled  sons  of  Erin,  whom  the  Lon- 
don Times  once  declared  to  have  **  gone  with  a 
vengeance,"  were  present  in  the  enjoyment  of 
"  life,  Hberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness."  Their 
numbers  had  swelled  forth  until  they  had  become 
a  mighty  factor  in  this  great  republic. 

It  was  pleasing  to  reflect  that  the  emigration 
that  drained  from  Ireland  the  elements  of  wealth, 
power  and  greatness  flowed  in  life-giving  streams 
of  energy  and  valor  into  another  country,  and  that 
country  the  powerful  and  jealous  rival  of  England. 
Every  pang  of  the  national  heart  of  Ireland 
seemed  to  be  but  a  pulsation  that  drove  to  the 
remotest  arteries  of  the  world  the  life-blood  of 
Irish  patriotism,  and  caused  Irishmen  to  stretch  to 
each  other  the  right  hand  of  fellowship,  forming 
around  the  wide  world  a  mrdle  of  national  love 
and  patriotism  that  extended  from  the  east  to  the 
west,  and  coupled  the  north  and  south  poles  with 
the  wide  circle  of  exiled  but  glorious  affections. 


THE    GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  665 

At  present  Catholic  and  Protestant  were  heart 
to  heart  and  hand  in  hand  moving  together  and 
assuring  each  other  that  on  the  present  question 
of  Ireland's  resurrection  they  have  one  common 
ground  to  stand  upon,  one  common  ground  to 
fight  for,  and  one  common  enemy  to  oppose. 

"  I  hope  that  this  great  republic,  that  has 
afforded  such  a  magnificent  asylum  to  my  exiled 
countrymen,  will  be  with  us  in  this  great  question. 
America  can  say  to  us:  'I  gave  you  employment, 
I  opened  my  doors  to  your  homeless,  and  gave 
land  to  your  landless ; '  but  the  Irishman  can 
reply:  'Yes;  but  I  have  been  the  instrument  of 
your  hardest  toil,  the  willing  architect  of  your 
civil  and  military  renown  ;  the  fiery  blood  of  my 
exiled  countrymen  swept  like  a  torrent  over  your 
vast  continent,  pouring  its  fresh  streams  into  the 
onward  current  of  American  nationality;  and, 
whilst  treacherous  England,  which  now,  by  fawn- 
ing sycophancy  and  by  wily  arts,  endeavors  to 
secure  your  confidence,  made  that  never-to-be- 
forgotten  attempt  to  drive  the  assassin's  dagger 
into  your  bleeding  heart  when  you  were  stagger- 
ing under  a  terrible  internecine  war,  Irish  blood 
flowed  freely  into  the  fraternal  current  that  sanc- 
tified the  statue  of  liberty  and  anointed  the  down- 
trodden slave.' " 

It  was  during  the  afternoon  of  the  second  day's 
session  that  the  convention  adopted  the  pream- 
bles and  resolutions  that  formed  the  subject  of  so 


5GG  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

much  favorable  comment  afterwards  on  the  part 
of  the  American  press  and  people.  Rev.  Dr. 
O'Reilly  read  them  in  a  tone  of  voice  that  rang 
throughout  the  spacious  hall,  and  gave  to  certain 
portions  of  them  an  emphasis  that  aided  their 
effectiveness  and  helped  to  give  heartiness,  if  any- 
thing could  have  been  needed  beyond  the  words 
he  read,  to  the  applause  by  which  he  was  fre- 
quendy  interrupted.  Here  are  the  preambles  and 
resolutions : 

"The  Irish-American  people,  assembled  in  con- 
vention at  Philadelphia,  submit  to  the  intelligence 
and  right  reason  of  their  fellow-men  that  the  duty 
of  government  is  to  preserve  the  lives  of  the  gov- 
erned, to  defend  their  liberty,  to  protect  their 
property,  to  maintain  peace  and  order,  to  allow 
each  portion  of  the  people  an  equitable  and  effi- 
cient voice  in  the  legislature,  and  to  promote  the 
general  welfare  by  wise,  just  and  humane  laws. 
We  solemnly  declare,  and  cite  unquestioned  his- 
tory and  the  universal  knowledge  of  living  men 
in  testimony  thereof — 

"  First.  That  the  English  Government  has  ex- 
isted in  Ireland  not  to  preserve  the  lives  of  the  gov- 
erned, but  to  destroy  them.  Entire  communities 
it  has  wantonly  massacred  by  the  sword.  To  the 
asylums  of  terrified  women  it  has  deliberately 
applied  the  blazing  torch.  Into  helpless  towns  it 
has  discharged  deadly  bombs  and  shells.  Through 
consecrated  crypts,  where  age  and  infancy  sought 


THE   GREAT  IRISH    STRUGGLE.  567 

shelter,   it  has   sent   its    bloody  butchers.      The 
sacred  persons  of  venerable  priests  it  has  stretched 
upon   the   rack   or  suspended    from    the  gibbet. 
Puling  babes  have  been  impaled  on  the  points  of 
its  bayonets  because,  in  their  own  words,  its  emis- 
saries '  liked  that  sport.'     Its  gold  has  been  folded 
in  the  hand  of  the  assassin,  and  has  rewarded  the 
infamy  of  the  perjured  traitor.     Its  treacherous 
falsehood  has  lured  patriots  to  unsuspected  death. 
As  if  the  sword,  the  cannon,  the  torch,  the  scaffold, 
the  dagger  and  the  explosive  were  not  enough,  it 
enjoys  the  unique  infamy  of  being  the  only  Gov- 
ernment known  to  ancient  or  modern  times  which 
has  employed  famine  for  the  destruction  of  those 
from  whom  it  claimed  allegiance.     Forcibly  rob- 
bing the  Irish  people  of  the  fruits  of  their  own 
toil,  produced   by  their  own  labor,  it  has   buried 
not  a  hundred,  not  a  thousand,  but  more  than  a 
million  of  the  Irish  race,  unshrouded,  uncoffined, 
in  the  grave  of  hunger.     It  has  mercilessly  com- 
pelled other  millions,  in  compulsory  poverty,  to 
seek  in  alien  lands  the  bread  they  were  entitled 
to  in   their  own.     There   is  no  form   of  cruelty 
known  to  the  lowest  savage  which  it  has  not  prac- 
tised on  the  Irish  people  in  the  name  of  the  high- 
est civilization.     There  is   no  device  of  fiendish 
ingenuity  it  has  not  adopted  to  reduce  their  num- 
bers.    Within  two  years  it  has  massacred  chil- 
dren, and  woman's  body  has  been  the  victim  of 
its  licensed  ruffians.     There  is  no  species  of  de- 


568  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

structive  attack,  however  insidious  or  violent,  an- 
cient or  modern,  rude  or  scientific,  whether 
directed  against  life  or  matter,  in  any  portion  of 
the  globe,  for  which  its  barbarities  in  Ireland  have 
not  furnished  the  example.  There  is  no  form  of 
retaliation  to  which  despair  or  madness  may  resort 
for  which  English  cruelty  in  Ireland  is  not  exclu- 
sively responsible. 

"  Secondly.  We  declare  the  English  Govern- 
ment in  Ireland  has  not  defended  the  liberty  of 
the  people,  but  has  annihilated  it.  The  statutes 
enacted  since  the  invasion  amount  to  a  series  of 
*  coercion  laws,  framed  to  deprive  citizens  of  all 
vestiges  of  personal  freedom  and  reduce  them  to 
outlawry,  in  order  to  confiscate  their  property  and 
compel  them  to  flee  to  foreign  lands.  Since  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century,  when  the  Irish 
Parliament  was  abolished,  the  laws  for  Ireland 
have  been  made  in  England ;  and  during  that 
period  habeas  corpus  and  the  right  of  trial  by 
jury  have  been  suspended  more  than  fifty  times, 
hordes  of  soldiers  have  been  loosed  upon  a  people 
forbidden  to  bear  arms,  and  a  state  of  war,  with 
all  its  attendant  horrors,  with  occasionally  those 
of  retaliation,  has  been  maintained.  To-day  rep- 
resentatives of  the  people  are  in  prison,  guiltless 
of  crime.  Freedom  of  speech  is  abolished  ;  free- 
dom of  the  press  is  abolished.  The  right  of 
peaceable  public  meeting  is  annulled.  No  man's 
house  is  secure,  night  or  day,  from  armed  ma- 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  §69 

rauders,  who  may  insult  and  harass  his  family. 
Without  a  warrant  the  citizen  may  be  thrown  into 
prison  ;  without  counsel  he  may  be  put  on  mock 
trial  before  a  prejudiced  judge  and  a  packed  jury. 
On  the  lying  averments  of  purchased  wretches  his 
liberty  may  be  sacrificed  or  his  life  taken  in  the 
name  of  law. 

"  Thirdly.  Instead  of  protecting  the  property 
of  the  people,  the  English  Government  in  Ireland 
has  been  a  conspiracy  for  its  injury  and  ruin. 
Of  20,000,000  acres  of  food-producing  land, 
6,000,000  have  been  allowed  to  lie  waste.  The 
ownership  of  the  remainder,  generally  acquired 
by  force  or  fraud,  has  been  retained  in  the  hands 
of  ravenous  monopolists,  who  have  annually 
drained  the  country  of  its  money  in  the  form  of 
rents,  no  portion  of  which  goes  back  to  the  Irish 
people.  In  addition  to  this,  an  iniquitous  system 
of  taxation  imposes  on  the  people  a  gigantic  bur- 
den for  the  sustenance  of  a  foreign  army,  for  an 
oppressive  constabulary,  for  salaries  to  super- 
numerary officials  and  placemen,  for  pensions  to 
English  favorites,  for  blood-money  for  informers, 
and  for  a  vulgar  court,  whose  extravagance  is 
equalled  only  by  the  sham  of  its  pretentions. 
The  naturally  created  capital  of  the  country  is 
sent  to  England,  on  one  pretext  or  another,  and 
brings  no  exchange  except  articles  of  English 
manufacture,  which  the  Irish  people,  under  self- 
government,  would  produce   for  themselves   or 


570  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

purchase  in  America.  Irish  manufactures,  de- 
liberately destroyed  by  England  in  the  last  cen- 
tury, are  still  dormant.  Her  immense  water- 
power  turns  no  wheels.  Her  canals  are  all  but 
impassable.  Her  rivers  are  obstructed.  Her 
useful  clays  and  valuable  minerals  are  untouched. 
In  her  beautiful  harbors  are  few  ships  except  those 
of  her  enemy.  English  law  for  the  protection  of 
property  in  Ireland  has  been  a  lance  to  make  Ire- 
land bleed  at  every  pore  for  the  benefit  of  the 
heartless  landlord  and  the  English  manufacturer. 

"  Fourthly.  The  English  Government  in  Ire- 
land has  not  maintained  peace  and  order,  but  has, 
for  seven  hundred  years,  broken  her  peace  and 
destroyed  her  order. 

"  Fifthly.  The  English  Government  in  Ireland 
does  not  allow  that  portion  of  the  empire  an  equi- 
table and  efficient  voice  in  the  legislature.  In 
England  one-twelfth  of  the  population  votes  for 
members  of  Parliament ;  in  Ireland  one-twenty- 
fifth  of  the  population  votes  for  members  of 
Parliament.  In  England  the  registration  laws 
are  favorable  to  the  voter;  in  Ireland  they 
are  inimical  to  the  voter.  In  England  all 
classes  of  the  population  are  fairly  represented  ; 
in  Ireland  the  poor  law  is  employed  to 
secure  to  landlords  and  place-hunters  a  prepon- 
derance in  the  national  delegation.  In  England 
the  judiciary  is  independent  of  the  executive  and 
sympathizes  with  the  people  ;  in  Ireland  the  judi- 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  571 

ciary  is  the  creature  and  a  part  of  the  executive, 
and  appointed  exclusively  from   the   enemies  of 
the  people.     In  England  the  magistracy  is  chosen 
without  regard  to  creed  ;  in  Ireland  ninety-seven 
per  cent,  of  the  magistrates,  having  jurisdiction 
over  personal  liberty,  are  selected  from  a  creed 
rejected  by  seventy-eight  per  cent,  of  the  people, 
and  the  detestable  spirit  of  religious  bigotry  is 
thus  legalized  and  perpetuated.     In  England  the 
laws  creatinof  civil  disabilities  on  account  of  re- 
liofion    have    lono-    been    dead.     In    Ireland  laws 
made  under  Edward  III.,  Queen  Elizabeth,  the  Earl 
of  Strafford,  Charles  II.,  Queen  Anne,  and  their 
successors  are  still  vital  to  torment  a  people  for 
whose  oppression  no  statute  is  found  too  hoary 
by  venal  and  truculent  judges.     Every  measure 
of  legislation  proposed  by  an  English  member  re- 
ceives   courteous   consideration.     Any   measure, 
however  just,  necessary  or  humane,  proposed  by 
patriot  Irish  members  is  certain  of  contemptuous 
rejection   by   a   combined  majority  of  both  the 
great  English  parties.     Thus  the  educational  sys- 
tem of  Ireland  is  notoriously  inadequate.     Thus 
it  is  that  evictions,  unknown  in  England,  and  de- 
clared by  Mr.  Gladstone  to  be  almost  equivalent 
to  death  sentences,  are  of  daily  occurrence  in  Ire- 
land, and  have  nearly  doubled  in  five  years,  in 
spite  of  the  boasted  benefits  of  the  Gladstone  land 
laws.     Thus   it   is,  that,  although,  according   to 
government   returns,  the   criminals  are  twenty- 


572  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

seven  in  10,000  of  English  population,  and  only 
sixteen  in  10,000  of  the  Irish  population,  in  spite 
of  the  exasperation  to  which  they  are  subjected ; 
yet  England  enjoys  constitutional  liberty,  and  Ire- 
land is  under  worse  than  martial  law.  The  in- 
trepid and  persistent  attempts  of  a  patriot  Irish 
deputation  to  obtain  in  the  English  Parliament 
just  and  humane  laws  for  Ireland  has  always 
been,  is,  and,  in  our  belief,  must  continue  to  be,  a 
a  failure. 

"  Now,  therefore,  in  view  of  these  facts,  be  it 
''Resolved,  by  the  Irish-American  people,  in 
convention  assembled,  that  the  English  Govern- 
ment in  Ireland,  originating  in  usurpation,  per- 
petuated by  force,  having  failed  to  discharge  any 
of  the  duties  of  government,  never  having  ac- 
quired the  consent  of  the  governed,  has  no  moral 
right  whatever  to  exist  in  Ireland  ;  and  that  it  is 
the  duty  of  the  Irish  race  throughout  the  world  to 
sustain  the  Irish  people  in  the  employment  of  all 
legitimate  means  to  substitute  for  it  national  self- 
government. 

''Resolved,  That  we  pledge  our  unqualified,  and 
constant  support,  moral  and  material,  to  our  coun- 
trymen in  Ireland  in  their  efforts  to  recover  national 
self-government,  and,  in  order  the  more  effectually 
to  promote  this  object,  by  the  consolidation  of  all 
our  resources  and  the  creation  of  one  responsible 
and  authoritative  body  to  speak  for  Ireland 
in    America,   that   all    the    societies    represented 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  573 

in  this  convention  and  all  that  may  hereafter 
comply  with  the  conditions  of  admission,  be 
organized  into  the  Irish  National  Leas^ue  of 
America,  for  the  purpose  of  supporting  the 
Irish  National  League  of  Ireland,  of  which 
Charles  Stewart  Parnell  is  President. 

''Resolved,  That  we  heartily  endorse  the  noble 
sentiment  of  Bishop  Butler,  of  Limerick,  'that 
every  stroke  of  Forster's  savage  lash  was  for 
Irishmen  a  new  proof  of  Parnell's  worth,  and  an 
additional  title  for  him  to  the  confidence  and 
gratitude  of  his  countrymen.' 

""Resolved,  That  we  sympathize  with  the  labor- 
ers of  Ireland  in  their  efforts  to  improve  their 
condition  ;  and,  as  we  have  sustained  the  farmers 
in  their  assault  upon  the  landlord  garrison,  we 
now  urge  upon  the  farmers  justice  and  humane 
consideration  for  the  laborers.  In  the  words,  for 
the  employment  of  which  an  Irish  member  of  Par- 
liament was  imprisoned,  we  demand  that  the 
farmers  allow  the  laborers  *  a  fair  day's  wages  for 
a  fair  day's  work/ 

''Resolved,  That  as  the  manufactures  of  Great 
Britain  are  the  chief  source  of  her  material  great- 
ness, already  declining  under  the  influence  of 
American  competition,  we  earnestly  counsel  our 
countrymen  in  Ireland  to  buy  nothing  in  England 
which  they  can  produce  in  Ireland  or  procure 
from  America  or  France;  and  we  pledge  our- 
selves to  promote  Irish  manufactures  by  encour- 


574  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

aging  their  import  into  America,  and  to  use  our 
utmost  endeavor,  by  plain  statements  of  fact  and 
discrimination  in  patronage,  to  persuade  American 
tradesmen  from  keeping  English  goods  on  sale. 

''Resolved,  That  an  English  Ministry,  ostenta- 
tiously 'liberal,'  has  earned  the  contempt  and  de- 
testation of  fair-minded  men  throughout  the  world 
by  imprisoning  more  than  a  thousand  citizens  of 
Ireland,  without  accusation  or  trial,  a  number  of 
whom  were  noble-hearted  women,  engaged  in 
works  of  mercy  among  the  evicted  victims  of 
landlord  rapacity  and  English  law. 

''Resolved,  That  this  convention  thanks  Rt.  Rev. 
John  Ireland,  Bishop  of  St.  Paul,  Rt.  Rev.  John 
O'Connor,  Bishop  of  Omaha,  Rt.  Rev.  John  Lan- 
caster Spalding,  Bishop  of  Peoria,  Most  Rev.  John 
Williams,  Archbishop  of  Boston,  Rt.  Rev.  S.  V, 
Ryan,  Bishop  of  Buffalo,  Most  Rev.  Patrick  A. 
Feehan,  Archbishop  of  Chicago,  Rt.  Rev.  Edward 
Fitzgerald,  Bishop  of  Little  Rock,  and  their  co-la- 
borers, for  their  efficient  efforts  in  providing  homes 
for  the  Irish  immigrants  into  the  United  States. 
The  people  of  Ireland  are,  by  the  laws  of  God  and 
nature,  entided  to  live  by  their  labor,  in  their  native 
land,  whose  fertile  soil  is  abundantly  able  to 
nourish  them ;  but,  since  a  brutal  government 
compels  large  numbers  to  emigrate,  it  is  the  duty 
of  their  countrymen  to  warn  them  against  the 
snares  of  poverty  in  large  cities  and  assist  them 
in  the  agricultural  regions. 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  57g 

''Resolved,  That  the  policy  of  the  EngHsh  Gov- 
ernment, in  first  reducing  the  Irish  peasantry  to 
abject  poverty  and  then  sending  them  penniless 
to  the  United  States,  dependants  on  American 
charity,  is  unnatural,  inhuman,  and  an  outrage 
upon  the  American  Government  and  people.  We 
respectfully  direct  the  attention  of  the  United 
States  Government  to  this  iniquity,  protest  against 
its  continuance,  and  Instruct  the  officials  who  shall 
be  chosen  by  this  convention  to  present  our  pro- 
test to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and 
respectfully,  but  firmly,  to  urge  upon  the  President 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  to  decline  to  support  paupers  whose 
pauperism  began  under  and  is  the  result  of  Eng- 
lish misgovernment,  and  to  demand  of  England 
that  she  send  no  more  of  her  paupers  to  these 
shores  to  become  a  burden  upon  the  American 
people. 

''Resolved,  That  this  convention  welcomes  the 
sturdy  and  undaunted  patriot  and  the  prudent 
custodian,  Patrick  Egan,  who,  to  protect  the  Land 
League  funds  from  the  robber-hands  of  the  En  or. 
lish  Government,  voluntarily  abandoned  his  pri- 
vate business,  and  accepted  a  long  exile  in  a 
foreign  land  ;  the  integrity  of  whose  guardianship 
has  been  certified,  after  a  minute  examination  of 
his  books,  by  the  distinguished  and  independent 
patriots,  John  Dillon,  Rev.  Eugene  Sheehy,  and 
Matthew  Harris.     Grateful  for  his  invaluable  ser- 


576  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

vices,  his  countrymen  rejoice  that  they  possess  on 
this  important  occasion  the  advantage  of  his  wise 
and  experienced  counsel ;  and  are  proud  to 
welcome  him  to  their  hearts  and  their  homes." 

"As  the  chairman  was  announcing  the  adoption 
of  tlie  resolutions,  the  hall  became,"  writes  Mr. 
John  J.  McKenna,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  "  a  scene 
of  the  wildest  enthusiasm.  The  delegates  rose 
671  masse  and  waved  their  hats  over  their  heads, 
as  they  sent  up  cheer  after  cheer,  and  the  ladies 
on  the  stage  arose  and  waved  their  handkerchiefs." 

By  a  unanimous  vote  the  following  was  adopt- 
ed as  the  platform  of  the  organization : 

*^  Whereas,  in  the  opinion  of  the  citizens  of 
America  and  Canada,  Irish  and  of  Irish  descent,  it 
is  needful,  for  the  purposes  hereinafter  set  forth, 
that,  sinking  all  private  prejudice  and  creed  dis- 
tinctions, they  do  unite  to  secure  this  common  end, 
do  band  themselves  together  under  the  name  and 
title  of  the  Irish  National  League  of  America. 

ARTICLE    I. 

"The  objects  of  the  Irish  National  League  of 
America  are : 

"I.  Earnestly  and  actively  to  sustain  the  Irish 
National  League  in  Ireland  with  moral  and 
material  aid,  in  achieving  self-government  for 
Ireland. 

"2.  To  procure  a  clearer  and  more  accurate 


THE   GREAT  IRISH  STRUGGLE.  577 

understanding,  by  the  American  people,  of  the 
political,  Industrial,  and  social  condition  of  Ireland, 
that  they  may  see  for  themselves  that  her  poverty 
Is  the  result  of  centuries  of  brute  force  and 
destructive  legislation ;  and  that,  if  permitted  to 
make  her  own  laws  on  her  own  soil,  she  will 
demonstrate  the  possession  of  all  the  essentials, 
natural  ^nd  ideal,  for  political  autonomy,  bene- 
ficial alike  to  Ireland  and  the  United  States. 

"3.  To  promote  the  development  of  Irish  man- 
ufactures, by  encouraging  their  Import  into  the 
United  States,  to  promote  the  study  of  Irish  his- 
tory, past  and  present,  and  to  circulate  carefully 
prepared  literature*  in  schools  and  societies,  that 
the  justice  of  the  cause  may  be  thoroughly  defend- 
ed against  ignorance,  malice,  and  misrepresen- 
tation. 

"4.  To  encourage  the  study  of  the  Irish  lan- 
guage, the  cultivation  of  Irish  music,  and  an 
enlightened  love  of  the  art  characteristics  which 
made  the  past  of  our  race  bright  amid  darkness, 
and  have  always  secured  for  the  Celt  success  and 
renown  in  every  country  in  which  he  has  had  an 
equal  opportunity  with  his  fellows. 

"5.  To  hurt  the  enemy  where  he  will  feel  it 
most,  by  refusing  to  purchase  any  article  of  Eng- 
lish manufacture  and  by  using  all  legitimate  influ- 
ences to  discourage  tradesmen  from  keeping 
Enollsh  manufactures  on  sale. 

"  6.  To   abolish    sectional    feeling,    to  destroy 

84 


578  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

those  baleful  animosities  of  province  and  creed 
which  have  been  insidiously  handed  down  by  the 
enemy,  to  weave  a  closer  bond  of  racial  pride  and 
affection,  and  to  keep  alive  the  holy  flame  of  Irish 
nationality  while  performing  faithfully  the  duties 
o-f  American  citizenship. 

"Section  2.  The  officers  of  the  League  shall  be 
a  President,  Vice-President^  Treasurer,  and  Sec- 
retary. 

"Section  3.  The  President  shall  preside  at  all 
meetings  of  the  League  and  perform  such  other 
duties  as  may  hereinafter  in  these  articles  be 
imposed  upon  him. 

"  Section  4.  In  the  absence  or  inability  to  serve 
of  the  President,  his  duties  shall  be  discharged  by 
the  Vice-President. 

"Section  5.  The  Treasurer  shall  properly  ac- 
count for  all  moneys  paid  to  him  by  the  Secretary 
on  behalf  of  the  League,  and  make  explicit  reports 
thereof  annually  to  a  convention  of  this  League. 

"Section  6.  The  Secretary  shall  keep  correct 
records  of  all  meetings  of  the  League,  receive  all 
moneys  for  its  use  from  subordinate  branches  and 
affiliatlno;  organizations  in  States  and  counties, 
and  pay  the  same  over  to  the  Treasurer,  taking 
his  receipt  therefor,  and  all  moneys  so  paid  to  the 
Secretary  shall  be  by  draft  or  post-office  order  in 
favor  of  the  Treasurer. 

"Section  7,  The  governing  body  of  the  League 
shall  consist  of  the  President,  Vice-President  and 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  579 

Council,  which  shall  be  composed  of  one  member 
from  each  State,  Territory,  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia and  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  and  which  shall 
be  elected  by  the  National  Convention,  and  shall 
meet  at  least  once  annually,  the  time  and  place 
for  which  shall  be  designated  by  the  president. 

"  Section  8.  The  governing  body  shall  meet  at 
least  once  annually  at  the  time  and  place  hereto- 
fore provided,  and  shall  frame  an  organization 
similar  in  character  for  each  State  and  Territory 
and  the  Dominion  of  Canada.  They  shall  pro- 
vide for  the  general  welfare  of  the  organization, 
and  they  shall  have  power  necessary  to  promote 
the  interests  and  extend  the  organization  and 
influence  of  the  League. 

"Section  9.  The  Council  shall  appoint  of  its 
number  an  executive  Committee  of  Seven,  to  be 
centrally  located,  for  the  more  effective  adminis- 
tration of  the  affairs  of  the  League,  of  which  com- 
mittee the  president  shall  be  ex-officio  chairman. 
They  shall  make  such  rules,  regulations  and  by- 
laws as  they  shall  deem  best  for  the  management 
and  control  of  the  finances  of  the  League  and 
their  general  correspondence,  and  shall  provide 
for  the  establishing  of  branch  leagues  and  the 
reception  of  societies  desiring  to  affiliate  with  the 
League,  and  shall  make  and  publish  such  rules 
and  regulations  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  form- 
ation, government  and  control  of  branch  leagues, 
and  for  the  admission  of  such  other  organizations 


580  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

as  may  desire  to  affiliate  with  the  League,  and 
such  council  shall  make  such  provision  as  may  be 
in  their  judgment  necessary  for  the  formation  of 
State  organizations. 

"  Section  lo.  The  Central  Council  shall  provide 
an  equitable  assessment  of  dues  for  each  society, 
league  or  branch  affiliating  with  this  League,  and 
such  ordinary  or  extraordinary  assessments  as  may 
become  necessary  by  the  exigencies  of  the  situation. 

"Section  ii.  All  American,  Irish  and  Irish- 
American  societies,  military,  benevolent,  social, 
literary,  patriotic  and  charitable,  may  be  enrolled 
^s  subordinate  branches  or  affiliating  societies  of 
the  National  League,  and  they  shall  pay  to  the 
treasurer  of  the  League  a  sum  not  less  than  one 
dollar  per  annum  for  every  member  in  good 
standing  in  such  league,  branch  or  affiliating  soci- 
ety, payment  to  be  made  quarterly. 

"  The  National  Conventions  of  the  Leaorue 
shall  be  composed  of  delegates  duly  elected  by 
the  various  branches  and  societies  affiliated  with 
the  League,  and  the  basis  of  representation  shall 
be  as  follows :  One  delegate  for  every  one  hun- 
dred members,  and  one  delegate  for  societies  of 
less  than  one  hundred  and  more  than  fifty;  but 
no  society  shall  have  more  than  two  delegates. 

"  No  branch  or  affiliated  society  shall  be  enti- 
tled to  representation  that  has  failed  or  neglected 
to  make  its  regular  quarterly  report  and,  paid  Its 
assessment  up  to  the  date  of  the  convention." 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE,  581 

Hon.  Alexander  Sullivan,  of  Chicago,  Illinois, 
was  elected  President;  John  J.  Hynes,  Esq.,  of 
Buffalo,  New  York,  Secretary,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Chas. 
O'Reilly,  of  Detroit,  Michigan,  Treasurer  of  the 
new  organization.  Rev.  Dr.  O'Reilly,  it  should 
be  stated,  was  selected  for  the  responsible  posi- 
tion of  the  Treasurer  of  the  League  by  the  cleri- 
cal deleofates.  When  Colonel  Boland  nominated 
Mr.  Sullivan  for  President,  the  mention  of  his 
name  elicited  enthusiastic  applause.  Before  the 
vote  was  taken  Mr.  Sullivan  refused  to  be  a  can- 
didate, but  in  spite  of  this  action  it  was  found 
upon  the  calling  of  the  roll  that  he  had  received 
the  all  but  unanimous  vote  of  the  convention. 
Upon  being  permitted  to  speak,  after  his  election, 
he  repeated  his  declination.  Young  at  the  bar, 
without  income  except  as  he  earned  it,  he  felt  that 
he  could  not,  in  justice  to  the  cause  and  to  him- 
self, afford  to  devote  his  time  to  the  arduous  and 
continuous  duties  of  such  an  important  position. 
The  convention,  however,  was  not  disposed  to 
consider  any  man's  private  interests  at  such  a 
time.  A  motion  M^as  unanimously  carried  to  "lay 
his  declination  on  the  table."  He  remained  firm 
In  his  refusal,  however,  and  at  length  only  yielded 
to  the  private  and  public  entreaties  of  the  leadino- 
men  in  the  convention,  and  after  eloquent  appeals 
delivered  from  the  platform  by  Rev.  T.  J.  Conaty, 
on  behalf  of  the  old  Land  League;  by  Patrick 
Eo-an  and  Thomas  Brennan  on  hehalf  of  Ireland ; 


582  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

by  Mrs.  Parnell  for  her  son,  and  by  James  Red- 
path  "  in   the    name    of  America,"    Major   John 
Byrne,  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  was  elected  Vice-Pres- 
ident, and  the  delegations  from  each  State  and 
Territory   announced  as  their  respective   repre- 
sentatives  in   the   National   Council:    California, 
Judge  M.  Cooney  ;  Connecdcut,  James  Reynolds  ; 
Colorado,    J.  J.   O'Boyle ;     Delaware,  James  A. 
Bourke  ;  Georgia,  J.  F.  Armstrong ;  Illinois,  John 
J.  Curran  ;  Indiana,   D.  J.  Sullivan  ;  Iowa,  M.  V. 
Gannon  ;   Kentucky,  Wm.  M.  Collins  ;  Louisiana, 
John  Fitzpatrick  ;   Maryland,  Rev.  M.  J.  Brennan; 
Michigan,  John  C.  Donnelly  ;  Massachusetts,  Rev. 
P.  A.   McKenna;  Minnesota,  C.  M.   McCarthy; 
Missouri,    Dr.    Thomas    O'Reilly;   Maine,  J.   A. 
Gallagher  ;  Nevada,  U.  S.  Senator  James  G.  Fair  ; 
Nebraska,    P.   J.   Smith ;    New   Hampshire,   John 
Hayes ;  New  Jersey,  William   F.  O'Leary ;   New 
York,  Dr.  William  B.  Wallace ;  Ohio,  William  J. 
Gleason ;     Pennsylvania,     Maurice    F.    Wilhere ; 
Rhode   Island,  John    McElroy ;    South   Carolina, 
Hon.    Michael    F.    Kennedy;    Tennessee,   C.    J. 
McCarty ;     Vermont,    C.   J.   Wheeler;    Virginia, 
Patrick  McGovern  ;  Wisconsin,   J.  G.  Donnelly; 
Arizona,    Thomas   Fitch;    District  of  Columbia, 
Peter  McCartney ;  Canada,  John  P.  Whelan, 

At  the  instance  of  Mr.  E.  Fitzwilliam,  of  Water- 
town,  Mass.,  the  convention  adopted  a  resoludon 
declaring  that  "the  United  Irish  League  of 
America   hereby   extends,  to    the    father   of  the 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  533 

Land  League,  Michael  Davitt,  incarcerated  the 
third  time  in  a  British  dungeon,  the  heartiest 
expressions  of  our  unabated  love,  esteem  and 
confidence,  and  send  him  this  message  of  greet- 
ing, in  this  the  hour  of  the  triumph  of  the  prin- 
ciples which  he  so  wisely  inaugurated  in  Irish- 
town." 

The  formal  declaration  of  the  amalgamation  or 
merging  of  the  Land  and  Irish  National  Leagued 
was  made  by  Rev.  P.  Cronin,  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
who,  by  authority  of  the  Conference  Committee 
of  Seven,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  appointed 
on  Wednesday,  April  25,  1883,  reported  that  "it 
was  the  committee's  decision,  in  view  of  the  unity 
and  harmony  of  the  new  National  League,  the 
Land  League  would  cease  to  exist  as  a  separate 
organization."  *'  It  was  not  dead  or  dissolved," 
he  added,  "but  endowed  with  a  more  vigorous 
life  in  the  new  National  Leao^ue  which  we  have 
this  day  established." 

Miss  Alice  Gallagher,  of  the  Anna  Parnell 
Branch  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  presented  on  behalf 
of  that  organization  a  check  for  ^850,  "to  be  dis- 
tributed by  Charles  Stewart  Parnell  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  destitute  poor  of  Ireland."  Miss  Mary 
E.  Callaghan,  also  of  St,  Louis,  Mo.,  presented 
$500  for  the  same  purpose.  "  The  women  of  the 
League,"  said  she,  "  propose  to  do  what  they  can 
to  keep  the  wolf  from  the  door.  Let  the  men 
keep  the  lion  away." 


584  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Before  the  adjournment  of  the  convention,  Mr. 
John  F.  Kerr,  of  New  Jersey,  had  a  resolution 
adopted,  pledging  to  Mr.  Parnell  and  his  trusty 
lieutenants,  the  hearty  support  of  the  delegates 
and  of  the  Irish  race  in  America. 

Of  the  very  many  telegrams  and  letters  from 
all  sections  of  the  United  States  to  the  conventioni 
congratulating  it  on  its  course,  and  sympathizing 
with  its  objects,  a  large  number  are  worthy  of 
reproduction  here,  especially  those  from  distin- 
guished Americans.  Congressman  Cox,  of  New 
York  (since  United  States  Minister  to  Turkey), 
wrote : 

"Washington,  D.  C,  Ap^?/,  24,  1883. 

"Dear  Sir:  Philadelphia  is  a  fitting  place  for 
your  assemblage.  It  is  full  of  revolutionary  and 
constitutional  memories.  In  those  memories  Ire- 
land has  a  large  part.  In  Philadelphia  that  con- 
cordant League  for  Liberty  was  illustrated  which 
made  the  great  *  Declaration,'  and  after  it  was 
sealed  with  blood,  crystallized  the  courageous 
effort  and  sagacious  statesmanship  of  seven  years 
by  the  ordination  of  our  matchless  Constitution. 
By  unity  our  cause  was  won. 

"Amidst  such  associations  Irishmen  will  find 
encouragement  to  harmony.  Here  they  will  find 
inspiration  in  the  struggle  to  better  the  condition 
of  their  compatriots,  to  give  autonomy  to  Ireland, 
or,  as  the  inevitable  tendency,  aim  and  end  of  all 
humane  and  effective  effort,  to  make  Ireland  free 
and  independent. 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  585 

"There  is  a  dose  parallel  between  the  circum- 
stances which  justified  our  independence  and 
those  which  would  justify  the  independence  of 
Ireland.  It  is  not  possible  for  Ireland  to  have 
contentment  and  freedom  under  the  British  flao-. 
Even  with  a  local  lemslature  and  self-o^overnment 
of  a  mild  type  assured  it  is  problematical.  It  is 
no  more  possible  than  it  was  for  this  country  to 
remain  under  the  British  yoke  with  its  commercial 
restrictions  and  insolence  of  office.  As  the  spirit 
of  Washington,  of  Jefferson,  of  Adams,  and  of 
Hancock,  in  the  name  of  human  nature,  forbade 
our  union  with  Great  Britain,  so  the  spirit  of 
Wolfe  Tone,  of  Robert  Emmet,  of  Thomas  Davis, 
and  of  Charles  Stewart  Parnell  forbids  the  su- 
premacy of  British  rule  over  Ireland. 

"The  commerce  and  manufactures  of  Ireland, 
not  to  speak  of  its  farming  interests,  are  decaying 
under  the  blight  of  bad  government.  It  is  said 
that  there  are  68,242  able-bodied  men  governing 
and  keeping  the  peace,  according  to  the  refine- 
ment of  British  civilization,  while  there  are  but 
21,382  persons  engaged  in  teaching.  While 
three  times  as  many  persons  are  engaged  in 
thus  keeping  the  Green  Isle  '  to  its  propriety,'  as 
are  engaged  in  forming  and  disciplining  its  chil- 
dren by  education,  what  else  can  be  expected 
but  anarchy  and  chaos?  Chronic  starvation, 
constant  evictions,  uncertainty  of  land  tenure, 
perpetual  unrest,  mocking  of  justice,  and  a  stand- 


586  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

ing  army  of  spies,  informers,  police  and  soldiers 
— truly  Ireland  is  the  worst  governed  country  in 
the  world  !  There  is  no  peace  to  be  found  under 
such  conditions. 

"Revolution  is  not  to  be  justified  for  'light  and 
transient  causes.'  True.  Are  not  these  causes 
of  sufficient  gravity  and  of  adequate  duration? 
Is  it  said  that  a  reasonable  probability  of  success 
is  necessary  to  justify  a  change  of  rule  ?  True, 
and  this  is  the  problem  about  which  the  best 
judgment  is  necessary.  No  one  can  justify  the 
attempt  to  destroy  British  rule  in  Ireland  if  the 
attempt  will  add  fresh  fetters  and  additional 
misery.  God  help  a  people  in  such  extremity. 
Whatever  you  may  decide  to  be  best,  this  agita- 
tion for  liberty  will  go  on.  It  is  the  order  of 
nature,  of  reason,  and  of  God.  Faith  in  the 
final  enfranchisement  of  Ireland  will  never  die. 
Irishmen  in  other  lands,  and  notably  in  this,  are 
content,  prosperous,  open-handed,  brave  and  gen- 
erous. They  are  faithful  and  self-contained  in 
the  land  which  they  have  adopted.  Why  should 
those  of  the  same  race  be  made  exceptions  in 
their  own  loved  Isle  ? 

"  Whatever  may  come  out  of  the  conflict  so 
courageously  waged  by  Parnell,  Egan,  and  their 
associates,  one  thing  may  be  affirmed :  that  this 
country,  as  an  asylum  of  freedom  and  free 
thought,  bestows,  with  no  stinted  heart,  its  best 
sympathy  upon  the  cause  of  the  oppressed.     If  it 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  537 

become  necessary  in  the  progress  of  the  contest, 
when  questions  of  extradition,  citizenship,  bellig- 
erent right  and  nationality  become  involved,  there 
are  lessons  for  our  guidance  already  taught  us  by 
Great  Britain  which  we  have  been  very  apt  to 
learn  ;  lessons  which  a  free  people  and  a  defiant 
Congress,  recently  reinforced  by  Celtic  pluck  and 
intelligence,  will  not  willingly  let  die. 

"Trusting  that  harmony  may  prevail  In  your 
councils,  that  every  Irish  organism  may  be 
blended  indissolubly  into  compact  unity,  so  as  to 
energize  the  endre  Irish  force,  and  that  the  cause 
you  represent  may  be  elevated  to  the  highest 
plane  of  humanity, 

"  I  am  very  truly  yours,  etc., 

"  S.  S.  Cox." 

Hon,  Samuel  J.  Randall,  the  great  Democratic 
protectionist  apostle,  a  prominent  and  able  mem- 
ber of  Congress,  and  for  several  terms  its  honored 
Speaker,  a  gentleman  to  whom  the  Irish  heart 
goes  welling  out  in  gratitude  for  his  manly  and 
determined  stand  on  behalf  of  an  oppressed 
people,  wrote  to  the  convention : 

"  If,  as  Americans,  we  owe  gratitude  to  any 
people  on  earth,  it  is  to  the  Irish,  for  they  were 
our  friends  during  the  Revolutionary  War,  the 
War  of  181  2,  and  during  our  recent  great  civil 
strife,  when  England  and  nearly  everybody  else 
were  against  us.     Besides,  It  is  consonant  with 


588  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

our  political  history  to  recognize  and  encourage 
all  peoples  seeking  freedom  and  nationality,  as  In 
tlie  instance  of  Greece  and  the  South  American 
Republics,  and  more  recently  in  the  case  of  Hun- 
gary, when  Webster,  as  Secretary  of  State,  spoke 
with  a  truth  and  courage  which  our  representa- 
tives in  our  day  seem  to  have  forgotten.  1  wish 
you  success  in  every  honest  effort  in  behalf  of  the 
liberty  and  welfare  of  the  Irish  people." 

Rev.  George  W.  Pepper,  one  of  the  most  elo- 
quent and  popular  Methodist  Episcopal  clergy- 
men of  Ohio,  addressing  the  president  of  the 
convention,  wrote : 

"  I  deeply  and  sincerely  regret  that  I  cannot  be 
present  with  the  friends  of  Ireland  in  their  con- 
vention. Be  assured  that  my  earnest  and  warm- 
est sympathies  are  with  you  in  every  sensible 
effort  to  secure  contentment,  happiness  and  pros- 
perity to  that  beautiful  land  for  whose  indepen- 
dence Grattan  plead  and  Emmet  died.  I  was 
there  eighteen  months  ago,  and  I  travelled  over 
hill  and  dale,  over  mountain  and  bog,  and  every- 
where I  saw  laziness  and  aristocracy  rolling  in 
splendor,  and  honest  poverty  dying  by  starvation. 
Hunger  and  despotism  were  doing  a  wholesale 
business.  In  the  County  of  Down,  notorious  for 
Its  bigotry  and  landlord  supremacy,  I  saw  hun- 
dreds of  miserable  huts,  over  which  hunger  had 
crept  with  deadly  horror.  In  that  very  part 
where  Toryism  reigns  rampant,  and  where    the 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  580 

British  officials  tell  us  there  is  happiness,  I  found 
destitution,  suffering  and  death.  One  word  ex- 
plains the  cause — landlordism.  I  found  two 
political  parties — the  party  of  the  government 
embracing  landlord  spies,  police,  preachers  paid 
by  the  Crown  to  pray  for  the  Queen,  snobs,  par- 
venus, and  the  brutal  aristocracy.  The  second 
party  is  that  of  the  people,  commanded  by  that 
splendid  captain  whose  courage  has  never  failed, 
and  whose  white  plume,  like  that  of  Henry  of 
Navarre,  has  ever  flashed  in  front  of  battle.  I 
mean  Charles  Stewart  Parnell.  I  frankly  and 
joyously  confess  that  every  impulse  of  my  heart 
is  with  the  oppressed  many,  and  I  am  longing  to 
hear  the  lion-roar  of  the  people  demanding  in 
thunder  tones  the  immediate  and  eternal  exter- 
mination of  landlordism,  monarchy,  bigotry  and 
periodical  famines  from  Ireland  forever.  Mr. 
Patrick  Egan,  that  large-souled,  wdde-minded  and 
patriotic  Irishman,  \\n\\  tell  the  convention  in  the 
city  of  William  Penn  what  he  has  already  said  in 
the  presence  of  power  and  of  tyranny,  that  to-day 
the  fieht  is  acrainst  landlordism,  but  to-morrow  it 
will  be  for  independence.  Let  the  friends  of  Ire- 
land never  despair,  let  there  be  no  drooping,  but 
let  the  leaders  take  up  the  mantle  which  martyred 
patriots  have  left  us,  and  deem  it  no  mean  honor 
to  perpetuate  the  noble  trust  bequeathed  them  by 
Emmet  and  Tone.  Ireland  has  the  support  of 
the   best  part  of  the   American   population,  the 


590  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

only  exceptions  are  the  tuft-hunters  and  the 
cowards  who  took  refuge  under  the  British  flag 
during  the  late  war.  Thanks  be  unto  Heaven, 
the  cause  of  Ireland  is  advancing.  Despite  the 
powerful  malignity  of  a  despotic  oligarchy,  despite 
the  vast  and  oppressive  burdens  of  landlords,  our 
country  shall  yet  rise  from  her  dark  disasters,  and 
the  Catholic  priest  and  Protestant  minister  will 
unite  in  writing  upon  her  escutcheon,  Resurgain, 
Res2iro-am,  Resiirp-am — I  shall  rise  aofain." 

From  Fort  Dodge,  Iowa,  came  the  telegram, 
sent  by  Michael  Healy,  Owen  Conway,  William 
Ryan,  R.  P.  Furlong,  and  J.  H.  Ryan: 

"  Greetiitg:  You  have  the  sympathy  and  support 
in  your  deliberations  of  ten  thousand  Irish-Ameri- 
cans of  north-western  Iowa  political  refugees,  to 
be  protected  by  the  American  flag  forever." 

Chairman  Timothy  Foley  and  Secretary  Daniel 
Sexton  wired  from  Leadville,  Colorado : 

"Irish  citizens  of  Leadville  send  you  greeting. 
Give  our  people  the  best  advice  and  basis  of 
action  to  abolish  their  sufferings,  and  the  Dome 
City  will  heartily  respond." 

After  the  convention  had  adjourned  the  new 
National  Council  met,  Dr.  William  B.  Wallace 
acting  as  chairman,  and  M.  V.  Gannon  as  secre- 
tary, and  elected  from  its  number  the  following 
working  committee  of  seven :  Rev.  P.  A.  McKenna, 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  591 

of  Massachusetts ;  Dr.  Wm.  B.  Wallace,  of  New 
York;  James  Reynolds,  of  Connecticut;  M.  V. 
Gannon,  of  Iowa;  Judge  J.  G.  Donnelly,  of  Wis- 
consin ;  Col.  John  F.  Armstrong,  of  Georgia,  and 
U.  S.  Senator  James  G.  Fair,  of  Nevada.  It  also 
adopted  a  resolution  requesting  every  Irish  society 
in  the  United  States  and  Canada,  willing  to  co- 
operate with  the  new  organization,  to  communicate 
with  the  national  secretary.  As  Mr.  John  J.  Hynes, 
the  secretary,  was  a  resident  of  Buffalo,  and  it  was 
found  necessary  that  the  person  holding  that  posi- 
tion should  be  in  close  communion  with  the  presi- 
dent, Mr.  Hynes  resigned  at  the  first  meeting  of 
the  Committee  of  Seven  held  a  few  weeks  subse- 
quently in  Detroit,  to  allow  the  selection  of  a 
secretary  who  could  make  his  head-quarters  in 
Chicago.  He  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Roger  Walsh, 
who  brought  to  the  position  his  experience  as  a 
capable  journalist  and  shorthand  writer. 

HON.    ALEXANDER    SULLIVAN's    ADMINISTRATION. 

Heavy  as  was  the  burden  laid  upon  the  new 
president,  he  entered  heartily  upon  the  discharge 
of  his  duties.  He  had,  largely,  to  create  the 
policy  of  his  administration.  Circumstances  had 
so  changed  that  the  chief  task  of  his  predeces- 
sors— the  collection  of  funds  to  avert  famine — 
was,  happily,  not  the  task  which  he  had  to  face. 
The  danger  of  famine  was  apparently  over.  He 
undertook  a  responsibility  not  less  serious,  but,  as 


592  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

the  world  goes,  much  more  difficult — the  educa- 
tion of  American  opinion  on  the  political  rights 
of  the  Irish  people.  It  is  never  difficult  to  pro- 
cure money  to  save  human  beings  from  starva- 
tion. The  ghastly  spectacle  which  had  been  pre- 
sented in  Ireland  during  the  years  of  famine  had 
disappeared  before  the  devotion  of  the  exiled 
Irish  race,  reinforced  by  the  substantial  aid  of 
American  sympathy.  The  duty  of  the  British 
Government  in  Ireland  had  been  thus  performed 
by  America.  A  greater  task  remained — the  re- 
covery of  the  legislative  independence  of  the  Irish 
people  by  the  moral  and  material  co-operation  of 
the  race  in  exile. 

Mr.  Sullivan  had  laid  out  the  route  of  Mr.  Par- 
nell  through  the  West  on  his  visit  in  1880  and 
1 88 1,  and  had  accompanied  him  over  a  consider- 
able portion  of  it.  He  was  familiar  with  Mr. 
Parnell's  hopes,  plans  and  calculations.  Mr.  Par- 
nell's  original  purpose,  it  will  be  remembered,  in 
coming  to  this  country,  had  not  been  to  solicit 
alms  for  his  suffering  countrymen,  but  to  submit 
to  the  people  of  America  the  claims,  and  expound 
the  political  condition  and  social  misery  of  the 
Irish  people.  The  famine,  looming  up  suddenly, 
however,  compelled  him  to  completely  alter  his 
course.  Now,  in  1883,  that  the  danger  was  past, 
the  original  purpose  might   easily  be   taken  up 


It  was  manifest  on  all  hands  that  a  struggle 


THE   GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  593 

was  approaching,  for  which  money  in  large  sums 
would  be  required  for  political  purposes.  It 
could  not  be  expected  to  be  forthcoming  unless, 
meanwhile,  opinion  on  this  side  of  the  vyater 
became  so  clear  as  to  solidify  American  sympathy 
with  the  political  aims  of  the  Irish  people. 
While  it  was  comparatively  easy  to  obtain  money 
to  avert  famine,  or  to  succor  those  who  suffered 
from  its  effects,  it  was  recognized  that  it  would  be 
difficult  to  obtain  it  to  promote  what  even  well- 
disposed  Americans  would  call  "foreign  politics." 
The  wise  counsel  of  the  Father  of  the  Republic 
aeainst  "entansflingf  alliances"  has  created  in  the 
American  mind  a  conservative  tradition  against 
any  form  of  what  might  seem  American  inter- 
ference in  foreign  affairs  unless  for  clearly  defined, 
legitimate,  and  humane  purposes.  Moreover,  it 
was  felt  by  Mr.  Sullivan,  that  it  would  be  indis- 
pensable for  the  success  of  the  struggle  in  Ireland 
that  the  movement  should  have  the  solid  and  ear- 
nest sympathy  of  enlightened  American  public 
opinion.  If,  therefore,  the  alms  era  was  happily 
over  it  was  essential  that  the  educating  era  should 
beo^in. 

Mr.  Sullivan  devoted  almost  his  entire  time  to 
the  carrying  out  of  this  idea.  He  delivered 
addresses  in  about  forty  of  the  principal  cities, 
speaking  in  many  of  them  several  times,  for  he 
was  generally  invited  to  return,  so  well  pleased 
were  the  promoters  of  the  Irish  cause  with  the 

35 


594  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

effects  of  his  speeches.  He  wrote  continually 
for  the  press,  was  interviewed  on  almost  innumer- 
able occasions,  and  furnished  abundant  materials 
for  others  to  use  in  lectures  or  magazine  articles. 
His  travels  covered  fifteen  States,  and  his  own 
business  was  thus  suffered  to  fall  into  neglect. 

One  of  the  first  objects  to  which  he  addressed 
himself  was  the  dissipation  of  the  prejudice  that 
the  Irish  question  is  a  "foreign  question"  in  the 
United  States.  He  boldly  declared  it  "an  Amer- 
ican question."  In  his  first  speech,  after  the 
Philadelphia  Convention,  delivered  before  an 
immense  audience  in  Cooper  Institute,  New  York, 
he  demonstrated  the  accuracy  of  that  designation. 
He  cited  Lord  Dufferin,  that  vigilant  servant  of 
the  British  Empire,  to  prove  that  the  Irish  in 
America  had  sent,  during  the  period  between 
1848  and  1863,  no  less  than  ^13,000,000  to  their 
suffering  kindred  at  home.  Moderately  assuming 
that  the  annual  remittances  compelled  by  land- 
lord brutality,  enforced  by  English  law,  had  not 
increased  (when  he  might  with  certainty  have 
assumed  that  they  had  done  so),  he  showed  that 
up  to  the  time  he  was  speaking,  not  less  than 
^175,000,000  had  been  extorted  from  labor  in 
America  to  maintain  landlordism  in  Ireland.  He 
declared  that  by  the  instincts  of  nature,  divinely 
planted,  this  colossal  imposition  would  have  to  be 
borne  by  the  Irish  in  America  until  landlordism  in 
Ireland  is  abolished,  for,  no  matter  under  what 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  595 

circumstances  they  might  themselves  live,  what 
self-denial  they  might  endure,  the  Irish  in  Amer- 
ica would  not  .let  their  kin  die  of  want  in  Ireland. 
To    keep   American     earnings    in    America    was 
assuredly  "an  American  question."     He  recalled 
the  aid  sent  from  Ireland  to  the  New  England  Col- 
onies  after  King  Philip's  War;  and,  in  order  to 
show  that  it  is  not  food,  but  liberty,  that  Ireland 
needs  to  prevent  famine,  he  reminded  his  generous 
American   countrymen    that    the  American   ship; 
which    carried    food   into    Queenstown,   in    1849, 
encountered  three  English  ships  carrying  out  of 
Ireland  the  abundant  harvests  which  might  have 
fed  the  people  whose  industry  had  produced  them. 
He  also  recalled  the  debt  of  the  Colonies  and  of 
the  Republic  to  Ireland  ;  he  recalled  the  forgotten 
pledge  of  Franklin,  that,  if  the  Irish  aided   the 
Americans  in  shaking  off  the  tyranny  of  England, 
the  Americans  would  aid  them  in  the  same  duty. 
He  cited  a  report  made  by  a  committee  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  in  which  the  statement  was 
made   that  "  more    than   half  of  the  continental 
army    who    won    American    independence    was 
Irish."     By  these  and  other  arguments  and  cita- 
tions equally  practical,  he  enlightened  that  class 
of  the   American   people,  who   opposed  political 
agitation  for  Ireland  on  the  plausible  ground  tnat 
the  Irish  question  is  a  "  foreign  "  one.     He  conclu- 
sively established  in  the  intelligent  and  reflecting 
mind  of  America  that  it  is  an  American  question, 


596  GLA.DSTONE— PARNELL. 

and  his  facts  and  logic  supplied  a  host  of  writers 
and  orators  with  effectual  material  for  its  success- 
ful advancement. 

DISCUSSING   THE    EMIGRATION    QUESTION. 

It  was  during  Mr.  Sullivan's  presidency  that 
an  important  event  occurred  in  the  history  of  the 
international  relations  of  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States.  One  of  the  most  frightful  and 
infamous  of  the  evils  of  English  misrule  in  Ire- 
land has  been  the  enforced  emigration  of  the 
Irish  people.  The  heartlessness  of  a  govern- 
ment, driving  from  their  own  land,  uncharged 
with  crime  or  misdemeanor,  tens  of  thousands 
of  penniless  people,  to  encounter  the  misery  and 
hardships  of  a  new  world,  a  severe  climate  and 
keen  competition  in  all  fields  of  employment — a 
competition  for  which  they  were  almost  utterly 
unprepared — has  been  practised  by  English  rulers 
in  Ireland  since  the  days  of  the  "  Great  Famine." 
At  first  it  took  the  form  of  clearances  of  "  noble- 
men's "  estates.  "  It  is  stated  that  the  Earl  of 
Bessborough,"  so  ran  the  Tipperary  Vindicator 
one  day  in  184.8,  "is  about  sending  some  hun- 
dreds of  the  population  of  his  estates  to  America 
this  season.  We  do  not  know  how  true  this 
statement  is,  but  as  the  rumor  prevails,  we  deem 
It  our  duty  to  mention  It."  What  was  then  com- 
paratively rare  became  a  common  occurrence 
later.     The    example    set   by   the   landlords   was 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  597 

taken  up  by  "  the  Government."  The  helpless 
victims  were  crowded  into  the  poor-houses,  and 
as  soon  as  the  excess  over  the  accommodations 
furnished  a  seeming  warrant,  they  were  forcibly 
expatriated.  From  those  days  to  ours  protest 
after  protest  went  up  against  this  barbarity,  but 
the  falsehood  of  "  over-population  "  was  kept  up, 
and  the  people  continued  to  be  driven  out  of 
their  native  land.  The  National  party  resorted 
to  every  device  to  arrest  this  arterial  bleeding  ; 
they  employed  all  available  resources  to  stop  it, 
but  no  heed  was  paid  to  their  appeals.  Mr.  Sul- 
livan devised  a  way  by  which  the  enforced  emigra- 
tion was  effectually  stopped. 

The  Philadelphia  Convention,  on  the  motion 
of  the  gallant  Col.  O' Meagher  Condon,  repeated 
the  frequent  protests  of  the  Irish  people,  of  their 
bishops,  and  of  their  leaders  in  Parliament,  and 
instructed  President  Sullivan  to  bring  the  matter 
to  the  attention  of  the  Chief  Executive  of  the 
United  States.  Mr.  Sullivan  at  once  associated 
with  himself  a  number  of  prominent  gentlemen 
who  were  eminently  fitted  to  discuss  the  "  com- 
pulsory emigration,"  or  rather  extermination, 
question  in  its  various  aspects.  These  were: 
John  O'Byrne,  Cincinnati,  Ohio  ;  Eugene  Kelly, 
James  Lynch  and  Henry  Hoguet,  of  the  Irish 
Emigration  Society,  New  York ;  William  B. 
Wallace,  M.  D.,  New  York ;  John  Rooney, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. ;    John    C.  McGuire,  Brooklyn, 


598  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

N.  y. ;  James  Reynolds,  New  Haven,  Conn. ; 
Bernard  Callaghan,  Chicago,  111. ;  John  F.  Arm- 
strong, Augusta,  Ga. ;  Michael  Doyle,  Savannah, 
Ga. ;  Edward  Johnson,  M.  D.,  Watertown,  Wis. ; 
Hugh  McCaffrey,  Philadelphia,  Pa.;  William  Mul- 
hern,  Augusta,  Ga. ;  T.  R.  Fitz,  Boston,  Mass.  ; 
John  Fitzgerald,  Lincoln,  Neb. ;  John  Fahy, 
Rochester,  N.  Y. ;  P.  Smith,  Cleveland,  Ohio ; 
John  Roach,  Chester,  Pennsylvania;  and  O.  A. 
White,  M.  D.,  New  York.  Accompanied  by 
them  Mr.  Sullivan  met  Hon.  Chester  A.  Arthur, 
President  of  the  United  States,  by  appointment, 
in  the  library  of  the  Executive  Mansion,  at  Wash- 
ington, D.  C.  It  was  aptly  remarked  at  the  time 
that  "  Mr.  Sullivan  used  his  opportunity  to  discuss 
the  entire  matter  at  issue  in  the  hearinof  of  the 
entire  American  people."  The  correspondents 
of  the  leading  newspapers  of  the  country  were 
there,  and  within  an  hour  after  the  interview  had 
wired  his  speech  to  their  respective  journals. 
The  address  he  made  was  universally  printed, 
and  caused  an  international  sensation.  The  rich- 
ness of  its  economic  and  statistical  material  insured 
its  being  filed  in  newspaper  offices  as  an  enduring 
and  authentic  source  of  information. 

At  the  close  of  his  remarks  Mr.  Sullivan  intro- 
duced Mr.  H.  L.  Hoguet,  President  of  the  Emi- 
grant Industrial  Savings'  Association  of  New 
York,  who  said  that  the  inmates  of  poor-houses, 
and   dependents  who  have   been   receiving  out- 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  599 

door  relief  in  Ireland,  have  been  aided  by  the 
British  Government  to  emigrate  to  this  country. 
"  It  is,"  he  continued,  "  a  matter  of  general  knowl- 
edge that  Parliament  has  voted  ;;^i 00,000  to  serve 
that  purpose,  and  that  agents  of  the  British  Gov- 
ernment have  come  to  this  country  to  perfect 
arrangements  for  the  reception  of  those  aided 
emigrants.  Application  was  made  by  Major 
Gaskell  to  the  Immigration  Society  at  New  York 
for  that  purpose,  and  the  society  declined  to  have 
anything  to  do  with  such  business  ;  but  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Boston,  where  he  met  better  success. 
The  '  aided  emigrants '  consist  largely  of  people 
unable  to  work,  old  women  and  young  children. 
They  have  been  aided  to  the  extent  of  having 
their  passage  paid,  and  are  given  a  miserable 
pittance  of  ten  shillings  upon  their  arrival  here 
to  enable  them  to  ofo  to  their  friends.  Of  course 
that  sum  is  entirely  inadequate,  and  the  conse- 
quence has  been  that  they  were  compelled  to 
seek  aid  in  New  York,  Boston,  and  elsewhere. 
If  regular  affidavits  in  regard  to  these  facts  are 
required,  they  can  be  furnished.  We  respect- 
fully request  you  to  use  your  influence  to  prevent 
the  recurrence  of  this  state  of  things.  It  is  to  the 
interest  of  American  municipalities  to  have  the 
progress  of  this  aided  emigration  scheme  stopped. 
"At  the  proper  time,"  he  concluded,  "  you  will, 
doubtless,  make  appropriate  recommendations 
to  Congress  on  this  subject." 


QQQ  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

He  was  followed  by  Mr.  James  Lynch,  of  New 
York,  President  of  the  Irish  Emigration  Society, 
who  read  an  extract  from  a  letter  on  "  aided  emi- 
o-ration."  He  asserted  that  the  charo^e  of  main- 
taining  the  poor  of  Ireland  falls  upon  the  Poor-law 
Guardians,  a  body  who,  at  a  meeting  at  Limerick, 
"  resolved  that  no  more  aid  could  be  given  to 
these  emigrants."  He  said  that  such  "aided 
emigration,"  if  not  stopped,  will  result  in  the 
shipping  of  paupers  from  all  the  poor-houses  in 
Ireland.  Many  of  this  class  of  emigrants,  after 
their  arrival  here,  have  applied  to  be  sent  back  to 
Ireland.  As  an  instance  of  the  able-bodied  paupers 
sent  out  here,  he  cited  the  recent  arrival  of  seven- 
teen emigrants,  only  jive  of  whom  were  able  to 
work. 

Mr.  James  Reynolds,  of  New  Haven,  Conn., 
handed  to  President  Arthur  a  letter  of  introduc- 
tion from  ex-Governor   Bigelow  of  Connecticut, 
and  said  that  eiorhteen  "  forced  "  or  "  aided   emi- 
grants  "  were  now  in  New  Haven  in  destitute  cir- 
cumstances, and  only  five  of  them  were  able  to 
work.     Mr.  Reynolds  gave  those  five  temporary 
employment,  so  as  to  enable  them  to  bridge  over 
present  difficulties,   and   to    prevent    them    from 
becoming    American    paupers.     He    urged    that 
the  citizens  of  every  municipality  and  community 
in  America  have  as  much  interest,  financially  and 
otherwise,  in  putting  a  stop  to  this  system  of  im- 
migration as  the  Irish-American  has.     Everybody, 


THE   GREAT   IRISH  STRUGGLE.  601 

he  contended,  looks  upon  this  thing  as  an  iniquity 
that  should  not  be  tolerated  by  the  American 
people. 

Mr.  Patrick  Smith,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  spoke 
of  cases  within  his  own  personal  experience  which 
compelled  his  fellow-citizens  "  to  insist  that  he 
should  come  here  and  lay  the  matter  before  the 
President,  so  that  the  trouble  might  be  remedied." 
"As  an  evidence  of  the  utter  helplessness  of  many 
of  these  unfortunate  people  in  a  strange  land," 
added  Mr.  Smith,  "  I  recall  the  recent  arrival  in 
Cleveland  of  seventy-three  'aided  emigrants,'  and 
that  entire  party  had  only  two  dollars  in  their 
possession." 

After  thanking  the  delegation  for  their  thought- 
ful courtesy  in  waiting  on  him  and  complimenting 
them  on  the  cogrent  and  concise  manner  in  which 
they  had  presented  the  case  of  "  enforced  emigra- 
tion," President  Arthur  said  :  "The  subject  will  re- 
ceive my  careful  consideration.  It  has  already  been 
under  consideration  by  the  Secretary  of  State. 
Correspondence  in  regard  to  it  has  been  had 
with  our  diplomatic  and  consular  representatives, 
and  an  investigation  into  the  facts  is  now  being 
made  by  them.  It  is,  of  course,  proper  that  this 
Government  should  ascertain  whether  any  nation 
with  which  it  holds  amicable  relations  is  violating 
any  obligation  of  international  friendship  before 
calling  attention  to  any  such  matter.  It  is  well 
to  follow  the  old  motto,  '  Be  sure  you  are  right, 
and  then  go  ahead.' " 


602  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Mr.  Sullivan  suggested  that  it  would  be  more 
satisfactory  to  the  delegation  and  to  those  whom 
it  represented,  if  the  investigations  and  reports 
were  made  by  officials  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

President  Arthur:  "The  law  now  provides 
that  the  officers  of  the  Treasury  shall  examine 
into  the  condition  of  the  passengers  arriving  as 
immigrants  at  any  port  of  the  United  States,  and 
if  there  should  be  found  any  convict,  lunatic,  idiot, 
or  any  person  unable  to  take  care  of  himself  with 
out  becoming  a  public  charge,  they  shall  report  the 
same  in  writing  to  the  collector  of  such  port,  and 
such  person  shall  not  be  permitted  to  land." 

Mr.  Bernard  Callaghan,  of  Chicago,  111. :  "  It  is 
manifest,  from  the  statement  made  by  Mr.  Rey- 
nolds, that  some  of  those  whose  immigration  is 
prohibited  by  the  statute  from  which  you  have 
quoted,  Mr.  President,  are  already  landed;  namely, 
those  who  are  likely  to  become  a  public  charge." 

President  Arthur  ended  the  interview  with  the 
remark  that  "  the  investigation  will  be  thorough 
and  exhaustive  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  and  on 
the  other,  and  in  the  meantime  the  law  will  be 
strictly  enforced." 

The  effect  of  that  memorable  interview — one 
of  the  most  important  chapters  in  the  history  of 
the  great  Irish  movement  in  the  United  States — • 
was  felt  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  Mr. 
Parnell  pronounced  it  "the  best  slap  England  had 
had  from  America  since  the  War  of  1812." 


>  -:• 

?3  :?: 


?  ^i^M 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  gQS 

Mr.  Davitt,  in  a  powerful  speech  in  Dublin, 
thanked  Alexander  Sullivan  "  in  the  name  of  the 
Irish  people."  The  press  of  Ireland  rejoiced  over 
the  check  at  last  imposed  on  the  detestable  policy 
of  extermination.  President  Arthur  kept  his 
promise  that  the  statute  should  be  applied.  A 
number  of  test  cases  were  made  as  soon  as 
practicable,  and,  although  the  Irish  Chief  Secre- 
tary, Trevelyan,  had  himself  smilingly  acquiesced 
in  the  deportation  of  the  unfortunate  inmates  of 
poor-houses  into  compulsory  exile  in  the  same 
year,  the  officials  of  those  poor-houses  were 
instructed  from  the  Castle  at  Dublin  that  "  the 
business  would  have  to  be  stopped." 

As  the  phrase  "The  Casde"  was  litde  under- 
stood here,  Mr.  Sullivan  requested  Mr.  T.  P.  Gill, 
now  M.  P.,  then  residing  in  this  country,  to  pre- 
pare a  pamphlet  to  be  endded  "  What  is  Casde 
Government?"  and  answer  the  question  com- 
pletely. Mr.  Gill  complied  with  the  request  with 
the  ability  which  marks  all  his  work,  and  the 
pamphlet  was  widely  read,  doing  everywhere 
good  work  in  clearing  away  misapprehensions 
and  supplying  facts    to  take  their  place. 

IRISH-AMERICAN    LEADERS. 

The  men  who  have  taken  a  leading  part  In  the 
Irish  movement  in  this  country  have,  as  a  rule, 
"made  their  mark"  on  the  dmes  and  in  the  com- 


606  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

munities  in  which  they  Hved,  as  men  of  integrity 
and  ability.  Prominent  among  them  is  stalwart 
John  Frederick  Finerty,  of  Chicago,  111.,  who  was 
born  in  Galway,  Ireland,  on  Sept.  lo,  1846.  His 
father  was  Michael  Joseph  Finerty,  a  staunch 
"Young  Irelander,"  who  was  editor  of  the  Gal- 
way Vindicator  from  1841  to  1848,  when  he  died. 
John  was  adopted  by  a  childless  uncle,  and  was 
mainly  educated  by  private  tuition.  His  early 
life  was  spent  about  equally  in  the  Counties  of 
Galway  and  Tipperary.  In  the  latter  county  he 
became  a  parishoner  of  the  famous  Father  John 
Kenyon,  the  bosom  friend  of  John  Mitchel.  Father 
Kenyon  took  a  great  interest  in  young  Finerty, 
and  delighted  to  discourse  with  him  on  the  men 
and  the  transactions  of  1848.  The  patriot  priest 
threw  his  fine  library  open  to  John  F.,  who  there 
revelled  to  his  heart's  content  in  the  fascinating 
"Rebel"  literature  of  the  United  Irishmen  and 
the  Young  Irelanders.  In  December,  1 862,  he  be- 
came a  member  of  the  Nenagh  Branch  of  the 
National  Brotherhood  of  St.  Patrick,  and  delivered 
his  first  public  speech  on  that  occasion.  His 
next  utterance,  which  w^as  favorably  commented 
upon  by  Smith  O'Brien  and  John  Martin,  was  at 
a  banquet  given  at  Nenagh,  at  which  Father  Ken- 
yon presided,  on  March  17,  1863.  On  Aug.  15, 
1863,  he  addressed  a  mass  meeting  on  the  sum- 
mit of  Slievenamon,  in  company  with  the  late 
Charles   J.   Kickham,  who  was    chairman,  Peter 


THE   GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  607 

E.  Gill,  of  the  Tipperary  Advocate,  and  others. 
The  sentiments  uttered  by  him  at  that  meeting 
called  forth  angry  comments  in  the  London  Times 
and  Standard,  the  Dublin  Daily  Express,  and 
other  Tory  and  Whig  organs.  Punch  made  his 
speech  the  subject  of  an  epigram.  While  return- 
ing from  the  Slievenamon  meeting,  on  Aug.  i6, 
1863,  Finerty  was  sworn  a  mem»ber  of  the  Irish 
Revolutionary  Brotherhood  by  the  late  James 
Cody,  of  Callan,  County  Kilkenny,  whom  he  had 
met  on  Meagher's  Rock.  In  October,  1863,  he 
addressed,  in  company  with  some  others,  a  mass 
meeting  at  Ormond  Stile,  a  famous  "  pass  "  in  the 
Slieve  Bloom  mountains,  through  which  many  an 
Irish  chief  and  clan,  in  ancient  times,  marched  to 
victory  or  death.  Young  as  he  was — a  mere  boy 
in  years — Finerty  had  now  become  an  object  of 
dislike  to  the  neighboring  landlords,  with  whom 
his  uncle  did  business.  They  made  false  repre- 
sentations about  him  to  the  Castle  Government, 
and  his  relatives  were  greatly  annoyed  on  his 
account.  Not  wishing  to  injure  his  uncle,  and 
disgusted  with  the  petty  malignity  of  the  English 
"  shoneen "  garrison,  he  determined  to  go  to 
America,  and  there  fit  himself  for  what  he  be- 
lieved would  be  a  war  for  Irish  liberation.  In 
New  York  he  met  the  late  John  O'Mahony, 
who  ofave  him  cfood  advice  and  encourasfement. 
He  became  a  member  of  the  Ninety-ninth  New 
York  Militia,  and  when  the  regiment  volunteered 


608  GLADSTONE— PARNELL, 

for  the  United  States'  service,  he  went  with  the 
command,  and  served  until  it  was  mustered  out. 
Soon  afterward  he  moved  west  and  made  Chicago 
his  head-quarters.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  Cin- 
cinnati and  Philadelphia  Fenian  Conventions 
held  in  1865.  When  the  Roberts-Sweeney,  or 
Canadian  Invasion,  wings  of  the  Fenian  Brother- 
hood seceded  from  O'Mahony,  Finerty,  although 
he  held  the  latter  in  high  respect,  sided  with 
Roberts,  because  he  believed  it  was  much  easier 
to  annoy  England  in  her  American  Provinces 
than  in  Ireland.  He  became  a  member  of  the 
MacManus  Guards'  Company  of  theChicago  Feni- 
an regiment,  and  was  selected  as  an  aide-de-camp 
by  the  late  Gen.  W.  F.  Lynch,  who  had  command 
of  the  Illinois  Brigade  in  the  Canadian  Invasion 
of  1866.  That  raid  resulted,  as  is  well  known, 
in  Col.  John  O'Neill's  brilliant  victories  at  Ridge- 
way  and  Fort  Erie,  but  the  interference  of  the" 
American  Government  prevented  reinforcements 
from  crossing  to  his  aid,  and  he  was  finally  com- 
pelled to  retreat  across  the  Niagara  river  to  the 
American  side.  When  John  O'Neill  became 
President  of  the  American  Fenian  Brotherhood, 
he  persuaded  Finerty  to  act  as  an  organizer  and 
to  enlist  men  for  a  new  raid  on  Canada.  This, 
in  connection  with  journalism,  he  did  for  a  year 
or  two,  but  finally,  owing  to  some  difference  on 
policy  with  O'Neill,  he  resigned,  and  became  per- 
manently connected  with  the  Chicago  press.     As 


THE   GREAT  IRISH    STRUGGLE.  609 

correspondent  for  the'  Chicago  Republican  he 
witnessed  O'Neill's  lamentable  failure  on  the 
Malone,  N.  Y.,  and  St.  Albans,  Vt.,  frontiers,  in 
May,  1870,  and,  when  all  the  leaders  were  arrested 
or  had  disappeared,  he  got  Gen.  H.  J.  Hunt,  com- 
manding the  United  States  troops,  and  Gen. 
Quinley,  U.  S.  Marshal  for  Northern  New  York, 
to  induce  the  State  Government  to  send  the  dis- 
appointed and  digusted  Fenian  soldiers  to  their 
homes. 

During  the  succeeding  five  years  Mr.  Finerty 
devoted  himself  strictly  to  journalism,  and  was 
mostly  employed  by  the  Chicago  Tribune  and  the 
Evening  Post.  In  the  winter  of  1875  he  became 
a  member  of  the  Chicago  Times  staff,  and,  in  the 
capacity  of  war  correspondent  for  the  paper,  ac- 
companied Gen.  Crook's  Big  Horn  and  Yellow- 
stone Expedition  against  the  hostile  Sioux  and 
Cheyenne  Indians,  in  the  spring  of  1876.  That 
campaign,  during  which  the  troops  had  many 
severe  conflicts  with  the  Indians,  and  in  which 
Gen.  Custer  and  his  command  lost  their  lives, 
lasted  six  months,  and  was  marked  by  tragedies 
and  privations  almost  unparalleled  in  Indian  war- 
fare. The  famous  "Sibley  scout"  also  occurred 
during  that  campaign.  Finerty  was  the  only  cor- 
respondent who  accompanied  Sibley,  and  his  ac- 
count of  the  affair  was  copied  in  almost  every 
paper  of  that  time. 

In   1877   Mr.  Finerty  wrote  up  for  the  Chicago 


QIQ  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Tz?nes  the  Pittsburg  riots,  and  made  a  tour  of  tht 
Rio  Grande  frontier  to  ascertain  the  causes  of  the 
border  troubles  with  Mexico.  He  also  wrote  up 
Louisiana  politics,  and  particularly  the  Nichols- 
Packard  gubernatorial  quarrel  during  the  early 
portion  of  the  year.  In  1878-9  he  accompanied 
the  American  Commercial  Expedition  to  Mexico, 
and  made  an  almost  complete  tour  of  that  repub- 
lic, returning  overland,  by  way  of  Queretaro, 
Zacatecas,  Chihuahua,  and  Paso  del  Norte  to  the 
United  States.  He  reached  Chicago  late  in  April, 
and  early  in  May  he  was  detailed  to  make  a  tour 
of  the  Indian  Territory  and  write  up  the  "boom- 
ers' "  invasion.  In  June,  he  accompanied  a  scien- 
tific expedition  to  the  Bad  Lands  of  Dakota,  and, 
in  July,  he  joined  Gen.  Nelson  A.  Miles'  expedi- 
tion against  Sitting  Bull  at  Fort  Peck,  M.  T.  He 
witnessed  the  last  battle,  on  Milk  river,  between 
that  savage  chief  and  the  United  States  soldiers, 
on  July  17,  1879.  He  visited  Sitting  Bull's  camp 
at  Woody  Mountains,  N.  W.  T.,  soon  afterward 
and  sent  an  account  of  his  experience  to  the  Times. 
In  October  of  the  same  year,  he  accompanied 
Gen.  Merritt  on  his  Ute  compaign,  which  lasted 
late  into  the  season.  In  the  fall  of  1880  he  made 
a  complete  journalistic  tour  of  the  Southern 
vStates,  and  became  the  Times  editorial  correspond- 
ent at  Washington  during  the  sessions  of  the 
Forty-sixth  Congress.  In  May,  1881,  he  was  de- 
tailed by  the  Chicago  Times  to  write  up  the  Cana- 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  611 

dianand  Northern  Pacificrailroads,  which  were  then 
very  far  from  completion.  He  reached  the  Pacific 
coast,  via  the  Northern  Pacific  route  in  August, 
having  travelled  several  hundred  miles  on  horse- 
back, through  an  unbroken  wilderness,  with  a 
single  guide  or  packer.  After  writing  up  the  re- 
sources of  Washington  Territory,  Oregon,  and 
Vancouver's  Island,  he  proceeded  to  San  Fran- 
cisco, and  from  there  was  ordered  to  join  Gen.  E. 
A.  Carr  in  his  campaign  against  the  Apache 
Indians  In  Arizona.  At  the  close  of  that  campaign 
he  returned  to  Chicago,  and,  having  conferred 
with  some  of  the  leading  Irishmen  of  that  city, 
proceeded  to  New  York  and  Boston  for  the  pur- 
pose of  organizing  the  first  great  Irish  National 
Convention  of  all  the  Irish  societies  of  the  United 
States  in  aid  of  Parnell  and  his  friends,  who  were 
then  in  prison.  After  some  difficulty  Mr.  Finerty 
succeeded  in  having  the  call  for  the  convention 
signed  by  Messrs.  Patrick  Ford,  of  New  York;  P. 
A.  Collins  and  John  Boyle  O'Reilly,  of  Boston; 
and  Messrs.  T.  P.  O'Connor  and  T.  M.  Healy, 
M.  Ps.,  and  the  Rev.  Eugene  Sheehy,  of  Lim- 
erick; all  of  whom  were  then  in  America.  The 
result  was  the  magnificent  convention  which 
assembled  at  McCormick's  Hall,  Chicago,  on  Nov. 
29th  and  30th,  and  Dec.  ist,  1881.  From  it 
resulted  that  splendid  fund  of  ^250,000,  afterwards 
swelled  to  ^500,000,  which  placed  the  old  Irish 
Land  League  financially  on  its  feet.     In  January, 

86 


gl2  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

1882,  Mr.  FInerty  established  The  Citizen,  a 
weekly  paper  devoted  to  Irish  interests,  which  he 
still  edits.  In  1882-3  he  inaugurated  the  Parnell 
Indemnity  Fund,  which  afterwards  became  so  suc- 
cessful in  both  Ireland  and  America.  After  the 
appearance  of  Cardinal  Simeoni's  circular  de- 
nouncing the  Parnell  Fund,  Finerty  wrote  an  edi- 
torial, headed  "  Boycott  the  Pope,"  which  produced 
quite  a  sensation  in  Rome  as  well  as  in  the  United 
States  and  Ireland.  Yet  his  paper  did  not  suffer 
by  it  as  the  people  were  indignant  at  England's 
repeated  and  shameless  interference  against  Ire- 
land at  the  Vatican. 

Mr.  Finerty  was  elected  to  the  Forty-eighth 
Congress,  from  the  Second  District  of  Illinois,  in 
Nov.,  1882.  He  went  in  as  an  Independent,  on 
broad  American  principles,  including  protection 
to  home  industries,  the  reconstruction  of  the  navy, 
the  extension  of  commerce,  etc.,  and  spoke  ably 
on  those  subjects  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 
He  fell  out  with  the  Democrats,  toward  whom  he 
had  a  leaning,  on  the  question  of  Free  Trade, 
and,  after  Cleveland's  nomination  in  1884,  he 
espoused  the  cause  of  James  G.  Blaine.  This  led 
to  Mr.  Finerty's  defeat,  by  foul  means,  in  his  dis- 
trict. He  has  not  since  sought  re-election  to 
Conofress. 

He  has  been  twice  married  and  has  two  chil- 
dren surviving.  In  Irish  politics,  Mr.  Finerty, 
although  a  staunch  supporter  of  Parnell,  is  what 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  615 

is  generally  called  "an  extremist" — that  is,  he  be- 
longs to  "the  extreme  left" — and  believes  that 
anything  done  to  injure  or  annoy  England  by 
Irishmen  is  perfectly  justifiable.  He  came  into 
conflict  with  Michael  Davitt  at  the  latest  National 
League  Convention  in  Chicago,  and  since  that 
time  has  declared  himself  sceptical  of  success 
against  England  by  unaided  "moral  force."  He, 
however,  has  thrown  no  obstacle  in  the  way  of 
the  Parnell  movement,  and  is  with  it  "as  far  as  it 
goes,"  although  he  is  unalterably  a  separatist,  or 
Mitchellite,  in  principle. 

Michael  J.  Redding,  of  Baltimore,  Maryland, 
was  born  in  the  city  of  Limerick,  Ireland,  July 
14,  1853.  His  parents  were  natives  of  the 
County  Clare,  but  removed  to  Limerick  in  1847. 
At  the  age  of  five  years  young  Redding  was 
placed  in  a  private  school,  where  he  remained 
until  1864,  when  the  family  came  to  this  country, 
settling  in  Baltimore.  For  several  years  he  at- 
tended the  Christian  Brothers'  school,  connected 
with  St.  Peter's  Parish,  and  was  afterward  ap- 
prenticed to  a  carpenter.  He  spent  twelve  years 
at  this  business,  utilizing  his  spare  time  for  study, 
often  remaininof  at  his  books  until  midnig-ht.  In 
1880  he  became  identified  with  the  Land  League 
movement,  using  all  means  available  to  make  it  a 
success  in  Baltimore.  Mr.  Redding  was  at  the 
head  of  the  movement  to  get  Henry  George  to 
lecture  to  the  people  of  Baltimore,  after  his  tour 


61  g  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

through  Ireland,  that  they  might  hear  from  an 
unbiased  American  the  true  condition  of  affairs  in 
the  mother-country.  He  has  been  a  delegate  to 
all  the  National  League  Conventions,  and  was  in- 
strumental in  getting  the  Knights  of  St.  Ignatius, 
of  which  he  is  the  Chief  Knight,  to  give,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Parliamentary  Fund,  what  proved 
to  be  one  of  the  most  successful  entertainments 
ever  held  in  Baltimore.  He  is  strictly  temperate 
in  all  his  habits,  and  ever  on  the  alert  to  turn 
everything  he  can  to  benefit  his  native  land,  and 
free  her  from  the  yoke  of  thraldom, 

Mr.  Redding  married  Miss  Ella  F.  Flaherty, 
who  was  born  In  Albany,  New  York,  of  Irish 
parents,  and  is  blessed  with  five  children,  in  whom 
he  is  inculcating  the  spirit  of  Irish  nationality. 

Miles  M.  O'Brien,  one  of  the  most  enterprising 
and  popular  business  men  of  New  York,  was 
born  at  New  Castle  West,  County  Limerick, 
Ireland,  in  1846.  His  father.  Dr.  Miles  O'Brien, 
was  a  "Forty-eight"  man,  and  his  sister,  during 
the  "Forty-eight"  movement,  wrote  several 
stirring  poems  under  the  nom-de-plume  of 
"Josephine,"  for  the  Munster  News,  for  which 
she  was  threatened  with  arrest,  because  of  the 
patriotic  sentiments  they  contained.  Mr.  O'Brien 
came  to  America  in  1S64,  and  has  .been  identified 
widi  every  Irish  patriotic  organization  of  note  since 
1865.  He  was  treasurer  of  the  fund  raised  In 
New  York  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  Tipperary 


THE   GJIEAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  617 

election,  of  a  celebrated  Irish  "felon,"  then  in  an 
English  prison,  to  represent  Tipperary  in  an 
English  Parliament.  The  fund,  amounting  to 
^2,500,  he  forwarded  to  that  sterling  patriot, 
the  late  Charles  J.  Kickham.  Mr.  O'Brien  was 
selected  by  the  Irish  Nationalists  of  the  West  to 
take  charge  of  and  forward  to  Congress  appeals 
from  all  over  the  United  States,  asking  the  inter- 
cession of  the  Anierican  Government  in  behalf  of 
Captain  Edward  O'Meagher  Condon,  who,  at 
the  time,  was  serving  a  sentence  in  England  for 
his  connection  with  the  rescue  of  the  Manchester 
Martyrs.  Petitions  from  nearly  every  State  in 
the  Union,  containing  the  names  of  over  300,000 
citizens,  were  forwarded,  and  aided  materially  in 
the  release  of  Condon.  Miles  was  one  of  the 
oro-anizers  of  Parnell  Branch,  No.  i,  formed  at 
the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  New  York.  In  organiz- 
ing this  branch,  he  was  assisted  by  the  Misses 
Fannie  and  Annie  Parnell,  and  from  it  have 
sprung  the  many  branches  now  in  New  York, 
which  have  done  so  much  Qrood  for  the  national 
cause. 

Mr.  O'Brien  was  one  of  the  oriorlnal  committee 
of  seven  to  call  the  meetinof  at  the  Hoffman 
House,  New  York,  when  the  Irish  Parliamentary 
Fund  was  started.  He  was  elected  secretary  of 
the  committee,  and  the  contributions  at  the  first 
meeting  amounted  to  upwards  of  ^10,000.  Since 
that  tinie  the  collections  of  the  committee  have 


'glS  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

amounted  to  over  $150,000,  at  which  figures  the 
fund  closed.  While  Mr.  O'Brien  has  taken  such 
an  active  part  in  the  interest  of  Irish  freedom,  he 
has  never  been  identified  with  any  American 
political  organization.  He  was  a  prominent 
figure  at  every  convention  of  the  Land  League, 
and  at  the  famous  Philadelphia  Convention  fought 
hard  In  conjunction  with  Father  Thomas  J.  Conaty, 
of  Massachusetts,  and  Major  John  Byrne,  of  Ohio, 
to  keep  the  Land  League  intact  and,  as  he  then 
fearlessly  and  frankly  declared,  "free  from  all  en- 
tanolino-  alliances." 

Col.  W.  P.  Rend,  of  Chicago,  Illinois,  whom 
one  of  the  leading  journals  o{  tliat  go-ahead  city 
holds  up  to  its  young  commercial  men  as  an  ex- 
ample of  a  successful  and  honorable  career,  was 
born  near  Longford,  County  Leitrim,  Ireland,  in 
1840.  When  William  was  only  seven  years  old 
his  father,  Ambrose  Rend,  emigrated  to  America 
and  settled  in  Lowell,  Mass.,  where  the  young 
lad's  education  was  begun.  After  graduating  at 
the  local  high  school  he  began  teaching,  first  at 
home,  then  in  New  Jersey,  and  finally  in  the 
South.  All  this  time  he  had  been  preparing  for 
a  collegiate  course,  but  was  doomed  to  disappoint- 
ment, for  at  this  time  the  Civil  War  broke  out. 
He  was  just  twenty-one  years  of  age  when  he  en- 
listed in  the  Fourteenth  New  York  Regiment. 
He  was  enofao-ed  in  eleven  Qfeneral  battles.  When 
he  was   mustered  out  of  service  he  moved  to 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  6I9 

Chicago  with  less  than  twenty  dollars  in  his 
pocket  and  looked  about  for  something  to  do. 
He  immediately  joined  a  surveying  party,  having 
a  knowledge  of  civil  engineering,  and  with  the 
surveyors  helped  to  locate  a  railroad  from  Madi- 
son to  Winona.  He  returned  to  Chicago,  intend- 
ing to  remain  only  a  short  time,  and  then  join 
another  surveying  party,  but  circumstances  altered 
his  plans.  He  entered  the  service  of  the  Chicago 
81  Northwestern  Railroad  Company  as  a  clerk, 
and  was  promoted  rapidly  until  he  became  foreman 
of  the  railroad  shops.  While  in  this  position  Mr. 
Rend  and  the  cashier  of  the  company  started  a 
line  of  transportation  wagons  for  hauling  freight 
from  depots  on  contract.  This  enterprise,  he  and 
his  partner,  Edwin  Walker,  are  still  connected 
with.  He  speedily  built  up  the  largest  individual 
coal  trade  in  the  West.  He  is  owner  of  three 
mines,  and  with  Edwin  Walker,  one  of  the  oldest 
and  most  highly  respected  members  of  the  Chicago 
bar,  owns  three  other  mines  in  Pennsylvania  and 
Ohio.  He  is  also  the  principal  owner  of  the  roll- 
ing-stock of  the  firm,  some  1,200  private  cars. 
The  firm  gives  employment  to  1,500  men,  and 
handles  annually  700,000  tons  of  their  own  mine 
products,  in  addition  to  selling  large  quantities  of 
anthracite  coal.  During  the  troubles  between  the 
miners  in  the  Hocking  Valley  and  their  employers, 
two  years  ago,  Colonel  Rend  took  sides  with  the 
men,  and,  as  a  consequence,  found  arrayed  against 


620  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

him  forty  coal  operators,  backed  by  certain  rail- 
roads. The  Hocking  Valley  Railroad  Company, 
the  principal  railroad  entering  the  field,  failing  to 
join  with  the  other  operators  against  the  men, 
refused  him  cars,  advanced  his  rates  of  freight, 
and' placed  such  restrictions  on  his  business  as  it 
was  thought  would  make  it  impossible  for  him  to 
operate  his  mines.  He  resolutely  met  the  attack, 
however,  and  entered  in  the  federal  courts  an 
appeal  for  a  mandatory  injunction,  compelling  his 
adversaries  to  furnish  him  cars  and  transportation 
at  the  usual  terms. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  attributes  the  greater 
part  of  his  good  fortune  to  the  faithful  observance 
of  the  temperance  pledge  which  he  took  from 
Father  Matthew  when  eight  years  of  age.  It  was 
at  Colonel  Rend's  suggestion  that  Bishop  Ireland, 
of  St.  Paul,  sent  the  eloquent  Father  Cotter  to 
preach  a  temperance  crusade  through  Ohio  and 
Indiana,  the  result  of  which  was  that  1 7,000  names 
were  added  to  the  total  abstinence  pledge  in 
three  months.  The  entire  expenses  of  that  cru- 
sade were  paid  by  Colonel  Rend.  In  Irish  affairs 
he  has  always  shown  himself  desirous  of  advanc- 
ing the  cause  of  his  native  land.  In  1865  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Elizabeth  Barry,  an  amiable  and  accom- 
plished lady.  They  have  had  a  family  of  eleven 
children,  of  whom  five  are  now  alive. 

The  first  time  that  I  met  Michael  V.  Gannon, 
the    eloquent    District   Attorney   of  Davenport, 


THE  GREAT   IRISH  STRUGGI  E.  621 

Iowa,  I  was  Impressed  with  his  earnestness,  the 
clearness  with  which  lie  expressed  liis  views,  and 
his  open,  sunny  countenance.  Tall  and  erect  in 
figure,  with  black  hair  and  eyes,  Mr.  Gannon  is  a 
man  of  striking  personal  appearance.  Like  many 
leading  Irish-Americans,  he  is  what  is  usually 
termed  a  self-made  man.  He  was  born  in  Dub- 
lin, Ireland,  on  February  14,  1846.  He  hved  for 
sixteen  years  in  the  County  Westmeath,  attend- 
in^r  the  best  schools  that  the  neig^hborhood  af- 
forded,  and  emigrated  to  America  when  he  was 
twenty  years  old.  He  first  settled  in  Rock  Island, 
Illinois,  where  some  of  his  friends  had  gone  before 
him,  and,  being  totally  without  means,  earned  a 
livelihood  by  teaching  school.  He  taught  there 
for  one  year,  and  then  went  to  Iowa,  where  he 
pursued  the  same  occupation.  While  he  was  en- 
gaged in  teaching  he  spent  his  leisure  time  in 
studying  law,  and  after  a  year  spent  in  Iowa  he 
returned  to  Rock  Island,  where  he  continued  his 
leofal  studies  with  P.  T.  McElherne,  now  a  well- 
known  lawyer  in  Chicago.  After  finishing  his 
legal  education  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  but 
did  not  at  once  enter  Into  active  practice,  prefer- 
ring to  spend  another  year  in  teaching,  Mr. 
Gannon  then  removed  to  Davenport,  of  which 
city  he  was  Alderman  in  1877  and  1878,  and  in 
the  latter  year  opened  a  law  office,  taking  into 
partnership  the  scholarly  A.  P.  McGuirk.  In  the 
same  year  Mr.  Gannon  was  tendered  the  Demo- 


622  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

cratic  nomination  for  Clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
but  declined  it.  He  was  in  the  same  year  nomi- 
nated by  the  Democrats  of  the  Seventh  Judicial 
District  for  District  Attorney.  This  nomination 
he  accepted,  but  was  defeated  at  the  polls.  In 
1882  he  was  tendered  the  nomination  for  the 
same  office,  accepted,  and,  although  he  lived  in  a 
Republican  district,  he  was  elected  over  his 
former  competitor  by  a  very  flattering  majority 
of  4,364  votes. 

He  received  the  unanimous  nomination  of  the 
Democratic  party  for  Attorney-General  in  1884, 
but  was  defeated  with  the  rest  of  the  Democradc 
State  ticket. 

After  the  Buffalo  Convention  Mr.  Gannon,  In 
conjunction  with  Hon.  M.  H.  King,  of  Des 
Moines,  Iowa,  organized  the  Iowa  State  League, 
and  was  elected  Its  first  President,  a  position  which 
he  held  until  the  middle  of  1886,  when  he  resigned. 
He  was  also  Chairman  of  the  National  Executive 
Committee  from  the  close  of  the  Philadelphia 
Convention  until  1886. 

He  Is  an  orator  of  singular  force  and  power,  a 
ready  talker  on  almost  any  topic,  and  in  private 
conversation  entertaining  and  agreeable,  with  all 
the  wdt  that  Is  Inherent  in  an  Irishman.  Mr.  Gan- 
non has  been  married  twice,  his  second  wife  dying 
on  November  9,  1884.  He  Is  the  father  of  six 
children,  five  girls  and  one  boy,  the  latter,  four 
years  of  age,  being  named  after  Mr.  Gannon's 
beau  ideal  of  an  Irish  patriot,  John  Dillon. 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  623 

Another  self-made  man,  whose  words  in  the 
councils  of  the  Irish  race  have  always  been  lis- 
tened to  with  respect,  and  whose  business  enter- 
prise has  been  rewarded  with  an  abundant  pros- 
perity, is  Patrick  Martin,  of  Baltimore,  Maryland. 
He  was  born  in  the  County  Mayo,  Ireland,  on 
March  i6,  1846.  His  family  removed  to  England 
in  1849,  remaining  there  until  1855,  when  they 
removed  to  America,  arriving  in  Baltimore  in 
June  of  that  year.  When  quite  a  lad  he  went  to 
work  in  a  factory,  to  assist  his  family  in  earning  a 
livelihood.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  years  he 
began  life's  battle  in  earnest,  and  for  a  time  was 
employed  in  different  public  works.  For  some  time 
also  he  acted  as  porter  in  a  store,  and  through  his 
earnest  labor  and  strict  attention  to  business  he 
was  advanced  to  the  position  of  salesman.  By 
economy  and  perseverance  he  succeeded  in  ac- 
cumulating a  small  amount  of  money,  and  in  Jan- 
uary, 1873,  he  started  in  the  wholesale  liquor 
business  in  company  with  Bartholomew  McAn- 
drews. 

In  business  Mr.  Martin  has  been  very  success- 
ful, and  has  secured  for  himself  a  comfortable 
home  and  the  old  homestead  at  Elkridge  Land- 
ing, where  his  aged  mother  still  resides.  Since 
boyhood  he  has  taken  a,  great  interest  in  the  af- 
fairs of  the  land  of  his  birth,  and  he  has  for  a 
number  of  years  been  closely  identified  with  Irish 
oro-anizations.     He  was  an  active  worker  in  the 


624  GLA.DSTONE— PARNELL. 

Irish  National  League  Convention  in  Boston,  in 
1884,  and  was  there  elected  as  the  Maryland 
State  Delegate  of  the  League.  He  also  attended 
the  convention  in  Chicago  in  August,  1886,.  and 
was  elected  Third  Vice-President  of  the  National 
League.  On  September  1 1,  1886,  after  his  return 
from  the  Chicago  Convention,  Mr.  Martin  was 
presented  with  a  handsome  gold  watch  and  chain 
by  a  committee  representing  the  Irish-Arnerican 
citizens  of  Baltimore, 

Among  the  most  gifted  of  the  many  eminent 
clergymen  in  this  country  who  have  espoused  the 
cause  of  Ireland  is  the  Rev.  George  Charles 
Betts,  of  Louisville,  Kentucky.  He  was  born  in 
Dublin,  Ireland,  July  18,  1840.  His  early  life  was 
spent  in  the  County  Donegal,  where  he  received 
his  preliminary  education,  which  was  completed  in 
Dublin  and  in  Belfast — the  Northern  Athens. 
He  came  to  America  in  i86i,  and  studied  for  the 
ministry,  being  ordained  in  Nebraska  in  1865. 
He  remained  in  Omaha,  as  rector  of  a  parish, 
until  1872,  when  he  went  to  Kansas  City,  where 
he  was  also  in  charge  of  a  large  parish  until  1876, 
when  he  was  transferred  to  St,  Louis.  He  re- 
mained in  charge  here  until  the  early  part  of 
1886,  when  he  assumed  charge  of  Grace  Protes- 
tant Episcopal  Church  at  Louisville,  Kentucky, 
where  he  now  is.  Mr.  Betts  is  the  editor  of 
The  Church  Militant,  and  is  known  as  an  ad- 
vanced churchman. 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  625 

He  has  been  engaged,  heart  and  soul,  in  the 
cause  of  Ireland  since  1868,  lecturing  in  her  be- 
ha:lf  in  almost  every  large  city  and  in  hundreds 
of  small  ones  in  the  United  States.  Wherever  he 
went  his  words  bore  good  fruit.  He  has  organ- 
ized many  clubs  or  societies  in  nearly  every  State 
and  Territory  of  the  Union,  all  of  them  having  for 
their  object  the  promotion  of  Irish  independence. 
Some  of  these  societies  are  "beneficial" — ^that  is, 
they  pay  to  members  and  their  families  sick  and 
burial  benefits — and  one  of  them,  at  least,  is  very 
powerful  both  in  its  widespread  influence,  the 
number  of  its  members,  and  the  spirit  of  unity 
which  pervades  its  ranks.  Mr.  Betts  was  Chairman 
of  the  first  National  Convention,  and  has  been  a  del- 
egate and  served  on  the  most  important  commit- 
tees of  every  National  Convention  since  that  time. 
Unfalterincr  in  his  devotion  to  the  cause  of  Irish 

o 

liberty,  he  has  at  all  times  freely  and  frankly  ex- 
pressed his  belief  in  its  ultimate  success. 

Another  gifted  and  patriotic  clergyman,  a  famil- 
iar and  welcome  fio-ure  at  the  meetings  of  the 
branches  and  conventions  of  the  National  League, 
is  the  Rev.  P.  A.  McKenna,  of  Marlboro',  Mass. 
He  was  born  in  Boston,  Mass.,  in  the  latter  part 
of  1847.  H^  received  his  preliminary  education 
in  the  public  schools  of  his  native  city.  In  1862 
he  entered  the  Holy  Cross  College  at  Worcester^ 
Mass.,  from  which  institution  he  graduated  with 
first  honors,  in   1867,  with  the  degree  of  A.  B., 


626  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

and  later  secured  the  degree  of  A.  M.  In  the 
same  year  he  went  to  Paris  and  entered  the 
Seminary  of  St.  Sulpice,  where  he  studied  in  the 
theological  course  until  1870,  when  he  was 
ordained  in  Bossuet's  age-crowned  Cathedral, 
at  Meaux.  Since  his  ordination,  both  as  curate 
and  pastor,  Father  McKenna  has  been  settled  in 
the  same  district,  Marlboro',  in  Massachusetts. 
He  was,  for  a  number  of  years,  pastor  of  a  church 
in  the  adjoining  town  of  Hudson,  and  is  now 
pastor  of  the  Church  of  the  Immaculate  Concep- 
tion at  Marlboro's  to  which  he  was  promoted  in 
March,  1886.  Father  McKenna  was  the  only 
priest  present  from  Massachusetts  when  the 
first  convention  of  the  old  Land  League  was  held 
in  Trenor  Hall,  New  York.  He  has  been  identi- 
fied with  the  cause  of  Irish  liberty  since  that  time, 
and  intends  to  fight  for  it  until  the  Promised  Land 
of  Ireland's  territorial,  social,  political,  and  in- 
dustrial hopes  is  reached. 

The  whole-souled  Treasurer  of  the  Parnell 
Testimonial  Fund  in  the  United  States,  Rev. 
Thomas  J.  Conaty,  was  born  in  Kilnaleck,  County 
Cavan,  Ireland,  on  August  i,  1847.  I"  ^^51  his 
parents  emigrated  to  America  and  settled  in 
Taunton,  Mass.  After  receiving  a  preliminary 
education  in  the  schools  of  that  town,  he  entered 
Montreal  College  in  1863,  and  four  years  after- 
wards "passed"  to  the  Holy  Cross  College, 
Worcester,  Mass.,  where  he  graduated  in   1869. 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  627 

After  a  course  of  theology  in  the  Montreal  Sem- 
inary, he  was  ordained  a  priest  in  December,  1872, 
and  assigned  to  St.  John's  Church,  Worcester, 
where  he  spent  seven  years  as  the  assistant  of 
Rev.  Thomas  Griffin,  Chancellor  of  the  Diocese 
of  Springfield.  In  January,  1S80,  a  portion  of 
the  old  parish  was  erected  into  an  independent 
parish  under  the  title  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of 
Jesus,  and  Father  Conaty  was  assigned  to  the 
charge,  which  demanded  a  new  church,  residence 
and  parish  appointments. 

Father  Conaty  was  among  the  first  to  enlist  in 
the  cause  of  the  Land  League,  and  at  the  Buffalo 
and  Chicago  conventions  was  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Resolutions.  He  is  prominent  as 
an  exponent  of  Irish  rights,  and  an  unflinching 
advocate  of  total  abstinence,  occupying  to-day  the 
position  of  Vice-President  of  the  Total  Abstinence 
Union  of  America. 

Father  Conaty  is  a  magnificent  specimen  of  the 
Celtic  race ;  is  over  six  feet  in  heip'ht,  and  as  stai- 
wart  mentally  as  he  is  physically. 

Roger  Walsh,  the  successor  of  John  J.  Hynes 
as  Secretary  of  the  Irish  National  League  of 
America,  was  born  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  Aug.  18, 
1859.  He  is  the  youngest  son  of  Patrick  Kieran 
Walsh,  who  died  in  July,  1886.  His  father's  entire 
life  was  spent  in  the  work  of  advancing  his  coun- 
try's cause,  and  elevating  the  position  of  her  chil- 
dren   in   America.     He  was   born    in    Dundalk, 


.g28  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

County  Lowth,  Ireland.  Leaving  the  "  old  land  " 
with  the  Young  Irelanders  in  '48,  he  no  sooner 
reached  this  side  of  the  Adantic  than  he  identified 
himself  Avith  the  cause  for  the  support  of  which 
he  was  compelled  to  emigrate.  Although  a 
young  and  helpless  family  depended  upon  his 
efforts  for  support,  he  found  time  to  gather  about 
him  the  exiled  of  his  race  that  were  scattered 
about  in  his  locality  and  organize  them  for  the 
preservation  of  the  national  spirit  and  the  main- 
tenance of  a  dignified  position  before  the  Ameri- 
can people.  In  Cleveland,  Ohio,  where  he  finally 
settled,  his  name  is  known  but  to  be  loved,  and 
his  memory  but  to  be  revered.  His  nationalism 
was  a  part  of  his  nature,  and  like  it  sincere,  un- 
compromising and  ever  active.  He  repelled 
attacks  on  his  country  and  her  children,  no 
matter  whence  the  source,  and  with  such  vigor, 
backed  by  a  wealth  of  historical  research  and 
logic,  that  his  opponents  have  invariably  retired, 
discomfited  by  the  telling  thrusts  he  knew  so  well 
how  to  direct.  His  tongue  and  pen  were  ever 
ready.  The  oppressed  never  called  upon  him  in 
vain  for  help.  In  every  movement  that  looked  to 
the  betterment  of  his  people  he  was  found  active. 
The  League  owes  much  to  his  intelligent  efforts 
and  ability  as  an  organizer.  Although  he  believed 
in  sterner  methods  than  those  advocated  from  the 
League  platform,  he  did  not  intrude  his  own  views, 
holding  to  the  policy  of  obtaining  all  that  was 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  629 

possi-ble  for  Ireland  with  the  aid  of  the  League, 
and  demanding  more,  if  necessary,  by  more  vig- 
orous measures.  His  pubHc  life  was  an  exempli- 
fication of  honest  purpose  sternly  pursued.  In 
his  home  life  he  was  tender,  loving  and  true.  His 
home  was  his  Paradise ;  his  wife,  Susan,  was  his 
ardent  supporter  in  every  undertaking.  Her 
nationalism  was  not  less  strong  than  his  own, 
and  her  influence  was  a  wonderful  aid  to  her 
husband  in  the  dark  hours  when  Ireland  needed 
the  help  of  men  as  good  and  true. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that  with  such 
parents  the  son  was  a  nationalist  by  instinct. 
He  imbibed  his  spirit  from  earliest  infancy. 
At  about  the  age  of  seventeen  years  he 
began  his  apprenticeship  as  a  printer  in  the 
office  of  the  Cleveland,  Ohio,  Herald,  now  de- 
funct, and  two  years  afterwards  was  promoted  to 
a  position  on  its  city  staff.  Later  on  he  con- 
nected himself  with  the  Cleveland  Leadei^,  which 
he  left  to  enter  into  commercial  life.  In  1883  he 
was  called  to  the  Secretaryship  of  the  League,  and 
fulfilled  the  duties  of  his  position  under  Presidents 
Sullivan  and  Egan,  resigning  at  the  National 
Executive  Committee  meeting,  Aug.  14,  1885. 
He  then  established  himself  in  the  printing  busi- 
ness, but  the  building  in  wdiich  he  had  invested 
his  capital  was  destroyed  by  fire  within  a  month, 
and  since  that  time  he  has  devoted  himself  to 
journalism.  He  is  now  a  member  of  the  city 
37 


g30  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Staff  of  the  Recoi^d  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.  He  has 
been  ardently  engaged  in  Irish  matters  since  his 
seventeenth  year,  and,  largely  through  his  father, 
has  a  wide  knowledge  of  men  and  events  in  the 
history  of  American  movements  for  Ireland's  wel- 
fare. In  manner  he  is  quiet  and  reserved,  and 
has  no  predilection  for  oratory.  His  taste  lies  in 
the  direction  of  literary  work,  and  believing  that 
every  opportunity  should  be  utilized  for  the  cause 
he  holds  so  dear,  has  used  his  influence  in  news- 
paper life  whenever  and  wherever  he  found  it 
was  possible  to  advance  the  national  principles 
of  his  people. 

An  earnest  and  faithful  auxiliar}?',  when  the 
Land  League  most  needed  help  in  the  City  of 
Brotherly  Love,  was  Martin  I.  J.  Griffin,  of 
Philadelphia,  Pa.  He  was  born  in  that  city  on 
the  23d  day  of  October,  1842,  and  from  his 
earliest  youth  evinced  great  interest  in  the  affairs 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  in  the  movements  of 
Irish  societies  generally.  In  1859,  at  the  age  of 
seventeen  years,  he  entered  upon  an  active  career 
of  usefulness  which  has  not  been  abated  by  the 
lapse  of  time. 

In  1867  he  became  the  editor  of  the  Guai^dian 
Angel,  a  position  which  he  retained  until  1871. 
In  August,  of  that  year,  he  was  instrumental  in 
introducing  into  Philadelphia  the  Irish  Catholic 
Benevolent  Union,  and  in  the  following  Septem- 
ber  organized  the    "Young  Philopatrians" — the 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  Q21 

first  Total  Abstinence  Society  in  Philadelphia 
under  the  present  movement.  At  the  same 
period,  and  during  the  subsequent  year,  1872,  he 
was  also  en^jao-ed  as  an  associate  editor  of  the 
CatJiolic  Standard,  and  thus  with  his  voice  and  pen 
was  working  diligently  to  further  the  multiplied 
interests  of  the  church.  In  the  month  of  March, 
1873,  he  established  the  /.  C.  B.  U.  JournaL  and 
has  remained  at  the  head  of  that  paper  up  to  the 
present  time  as  its  editor  and  proprietor.  In 
April,  1879,  he  founded  Branch  No.  56,  Catholic 
Knights  of  America,  this  being  the  first  branch  of 
the  order  established  in  this  city.  During  the 
following  year,  on  the  24th  of  November,  1880, 
a  meetine  was  called  at  the  business  office  of  the 
/.  C.  B.  U.  Journal,  No  71 1  Sansom  street,  when 
a  branch  of  the  Irish  Land  League  was  formed. 
Mr.  Griffin,  with  his  usual  zeal,  manifested  con- 
siderable interest  in  the  oro^anization  of  this  the 
first  branch  of  the  Land  League  in  Philadelphia, 
and  when  the  first  public  meeting  was  called  in 
Philopatrian  Ha]!,  on  Sunday,  December  4,  1880, 
he  was  honored  by  being  chosen  as  the  secretary 
and  treasurer  of  the  branch,  Mr.  Charles  Fay 
being  elected  its  president.  He  afterwards  at- 
tended several  of  the  conventions  of  the  Land 
and  National  Leagues,  and  in  the  great  conventions 
of  the  Land  League,  and  of  the  Irish  Race,  held 
in  Philadelphia,  in  April,  1883,  he  was  made  the 
Chairman  of  the  Press  Committee,a  position  which. 


632  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

from  his  peculiar  attainments  and  his  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  duties  required,  he  was  emi- 
nently qualified  to  fill.  Undaunted  with  very 
many  other  projects  on  hand,  some  of  them  of  a 
business  and  others  of  a  religious  and  patriotic 
nature,  the  month  of  July,  1883,  found  Mr.  Griffin 
engaged  in  compiling  a  "  Catholic  History  of 
Philadelphia,"  selected  portions  of  which  have,  from 
time  to  time,  appeared  in  the  column^  of  the 
/-  G.  B.  U.  Journal,  much  to  the  edification  of  the 
adherents  of  the  church  and  to  the  public  in 
ofeneral.  He  was  also  one  of  the  oroanizers,  on 
July  22,  1884.  of  the  Catholic  Historical  Society 
of  Philadelphia,  and  has  since  been  elected  its 
first  vice-president.  He  is  also  the  author  of 
"The  History  of  Old  St.  Joseph's,"  together  with 
a  "  History  of  St.  John's  Church,"  and  of  an  ably 
written  treatise  on  "William  Penn,  the  Friend  of 
Catholics."  Among  his  other  literary  productions 
are  :  "  The  Irish  in  Philadelphia,"  "  Catholicity  in 
Philadelphia,"  and  other  works.  Mr.  Griffin  Is  a 
member  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania, 
the  Historical  Society  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  and  of 
the  Linnsean  Society  of  Lancaster,  Pa. 

Human  liberty,  in  O'Neill  Ryan,  of  St.  Louis, 
Missouri,  has  always  found  a  stalwart  advocate. 
He  was  born  in  St.  Louis,  on  the  5th  day  of 
January,  i860, and  came  from  good  old  Irish  stock. 
His  father,  who  died  in  1866,  was  from  Tipperary, 
while  through  his  mother,  who  still  survives,  he 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  633 

traces  his  ancestry  to  Oliver  O'Neill,  a  "rebel  of 
'98."  Although  still  a  young  man,  Mr.  Ryan 
has  already  shown  those  qualities  which  belong 
to  a  maturer  manhood,  and  has  achieved  consid- 
able  success  in  his  profession  as  a  lawyer.  In  his 
boyhood  he  attended  the  public  schools  of  his  na- 
tive city,  but  at  the  age  of  thirteen  years  was 
obliged,  like  many  others  who  have  since  risen  to 
eminence,  to  do  battle  in  the  world  for  a  liveli- 
hood. About  eight  years  ago  he  entered  the 
law  office  of  G.  Campbell,  Esq.,  a  man  who,  in  the 
prime  of  life,  is  ranked  among  the  leaders  of  the 
bar  in  the  West.  In  Mr.  Campbell  he  found  a 
sympathetic  and  kindly  disposed  friend,  and  as  he 
was  unable  to  take  a  collegiate  course,  he  worked 
under  his  crenerous  Guidance,  and  studied  hard  to 
fit  himself  for  the  profession  of  his  choice.  In 
June,  1880,  he  passed  a  successful  and  creditable 
examination  in  the  Circuit  Court  at  St.  Louis,  and 
was  admitted  to  practice  at  the  bar.  Mr.  Ryan 
had  the  usual  up-hill  task  of  a  young  lawyer,  but 
with  a  firm  determination  to  succeed,  he  has 
overcome  all  obstacles,  and  is  now  in  a  position 
to  look  back  with  pleasure  upon  the  conflicts  and 
discouragements  of  other  years.  He  is  now  as- 
sociated in  business  with  his  friend  and  preceptor, 
Mr.  Campbell,  and  is  engaged  in  practice  in  the 
State  and  Federal  Courts. 

Mr.  Ryan  is  thoroughly  familiar  with  Irish  his- 
tory and  an  enthusiast  on  all  matters  connected 


g34  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

with  Ireland.  In  1881  he  entered  the  Land 
League  movement  and  has  been  actively  con- 
nected with  Irish  national  affairs  ever  since,  hav- 
ing at  various  times  been  president  of  local 
Leaeues,  attended  the  national  conventions  and 
delivered  numerous  addresses.  In  1884,  at  the 
Boston  Convention,  he  was  elected  first  Vice- 
President  of  the  Irish  National  League  of  Amer- 
ica, and  held  that  position  during  Mr.  Egan's 
administration,  and  until  the  Chicaoo  Convention 
of  the  summer  of  1886. 

Another  self-made  Irish-American  who  has 
risen  to  high  social  position  in  his  adopted 
country,  and  whom  I  have  met  at  every  con- 
vention, is  William  John  Gleason,  of  Cleveland, 
Ohio.  He  was  born  in  County  Clare,  Ireland,  on 
June  2,  1846,  and  the  following  year  his  parents 
came  to  the  United  States  and  shordy  afterwards 
settled  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  where  he  has  since 
continued  to  reside.  He  acquired  his  early  edu- 
cation in  the  parochial  and  public  schools,  but  at 
the  aoe  of  twelve  years  was  obliofed  to  o-o  forth 
and  battle  with  the  stern  realities  of  life,  to  earn  a 
subsistence  for  himself,  and  to  aid  his  parents. 
He  commenced  his  career  as  a  newsboy,  and  two 
years  later  entered  the  office  of  the  Cleveland 
Plain  Dealer,  where  he  learned  the  trade  of 
printing,  mastering  all  the  branches  of  the  art 
preservative,  and  working  at  the  "case"  for  nearly 
eight  years.     Upon  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil 


THE   GREAT    IRISH    STRUGGLE  635 

War  in  1861,  altliouL;!!  not  ytt  fifteen  years  of  age, 
he  purchased  a  drum  and  entered  the  service  of 
his  adopted  country  as  a  drummer-boy,  in  Camp 
Taylor,  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  where  he  continued 
until  his  parents,  thinking  him  too  young  for  a 
military  life,  took  him  out  of  the  service.  Two 
years  subsequently,  in  July,  1863,  he  shouldered 
a  rifle  and  became  a  member  of  the  Twenty-ninth 
Regiiri^nt,  Ohio  National  Guard,  and  remained 
with  that  organization  until  May  5,  1864,  when  he 
enlisted  in  Company  E,  of  the  150th  Regiment 
Infantry,  Ohio  Volunteers.  He  immediately 
accompanied  his  regiment  to  Washington  and 
was  detailed  for  duty  in  the  forts  surrounding  the 
National  Capital.  At  the  close  of  the  term  of 
enlistment  of  the  regiment,  he  received  an  honor- 
able discharge,  when  he  re-entered  the  office  of 
the  Plain  Dealer  and  worked  at  the  "  case  "  until 
Nov.  I,  1869,  leaving  the  latter  position  to  accept 
that  of  City  Circulator,  and  taking  entire  charge 
of  the  city  edition  until  the  year  1882,  officiating 
in  the  meantime,  also,  on  the  reportorial  staff 
While  connected  with  the  Plain  Dealer,  from 
which  he  graduated  as  its  sub-proprietor,  he  was 
Secretary  of  the  Typographical  Union  for  three 
terms,  and  for  a  similar  period  was  Secretar}^  of 
the  Trades  Assembly.  In  the  year  1882,  he 
resigned  his  position  in  the  newspaper  office  to 
enter  the  business  of  fire  insurance. 

In  matters  pertaining  to  the  Church  and  the 


g36  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Irish  cause,  Mr.  Gleason  has  always  been  in  the 
foremost  rank.  In  1865,  when  nineteen  years  of 
age,  he  became  a  member  of  Tara  Circle,  Fenian 
Brotherhood,  and  was  an  active  worker  in  that 
organization  until  its  disbandment.  He  also 
joined  the  Irish  Nationalists  Society  when  the 
latter  was  organized,  and  with  his  pen,  purse,  and 
voice,  from  his  earliest  youth  to  the  present  time, 
has  been  unceasing  in  pushing  the  battle  for  Irish 
freedom.  For  seven  consecutive  terms  he  was 
President  of  the  Irish  Literary  and  Benevolent 
Association,  an  organization  embracing  within  its 
ranks  the  best  materials  of  Irish  society  in  Cleve- 
land ;  and  for  two  years  he  was  the  Librarian  of 
the  same  association.  Frequently,  after  a  day  of 
hard  work,  Mr.  Gleason  would  devote  himself  to 
reading  the  history  of  his  native  land,  in  order 
that  he  might  carry  out  a  resolve,  made  in  youth, 
that  he  would  do  everything  within  his  power  to 
elevate  his  race  at  home  and  abroad,  to  bring 
freedom  to  his  long-oppressed  but  ever  defiant 
countrymen.  This  resolve  he  has  since  been 
carrying  into  effect  whenever  opportunity  pre- 
sented. His  steadfast  loyalty  to  the  cause  of 
Ireland  has  been  abundandy  shown  by  his  active 
work. 

In  1878,  he  called  a  meeting  of  the  Irishmen 
of  Cleveland  to  make  arrangements  for  celebrat- 
ing the  Robert  Emmet  Centennial.     As  chairman 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  637 

of  the  committee  he  made  a  stirring  appeal  to  his 
fellow-countrymen,  and  the  result  was  one  of  the 
grandest  demonstrations  ever  held  in  the  Academy 
of  Music  of  Cleveland.  Mr.  Gleason  grave  a 
sketch  of  Emmet's  life,  closing  his  address  by 
reading,  with  much  feeling,  the  farewell  speech 
of  Ireland's  martyr. 

When  the  Land  League  was  formed  in  Ireland, 
Mr.  Gleason  shortly  afterwards  organized  a  branch 
in  Cleveland  and  was  elected  its  President.  On 
the  occasion  of  the  visit  of  Charles  Stewart  Par- 
nell  and  John  Dillon  to  America,  in  1879,  they 
were  invited  to  visit  Cleveland,  which  they  did  in 
January,  1880,  when  Mr.  Gleason  was  again  at 
the  head  of  the  committee  of  arrangements,  and 
so  perfecdy  were  the  details  carried  out  that  Mr. 
Parnell  said  :  "  It  was  the  grandest  and  most  sat- 
isfactory demonstration  he  had  witnessed  since 
his  arrival  in  this  country."  A  monster  proces- 
sion was  organized,  ending  with  a  gathering  of 
over  four  thousand  people  in  the  evening,  when, 
at  the  meeting  then  held,  a  large  sum  was  realized 
for  the  national  cause,  as  well  as  for  the  famine- 
stricken  people  of  Ireland,  while  public  opinion  in 
Cleveland  was  strongly  moulded  in  favor  of  the 
Irish  cause.  When  Mr.  Parnell  was  about  leav- 
ing the  United  States,  he  wrote  a  list  of  names, 
and  handed  them  to  his  sister,  with  the  request  to 
submit  them  to  the  leaders  of  the  Land  League 
as  additions  to  the  American  branch  of  the  League 


638  GLADSTONE-PARNELL. 

Executive.  The  list  as  published  in  the  Boston 
Pilot  at  the  time  was  as  follows:  John  Boyle 
O'Reilly  and  Patrick  A.  Collins,  Boston  ;  Thomas 
A.  Kinsella,  Brooklyn ;  E.  M.  Stone,  of  the  Chi- 
cago Evening  yoitrnal ;  J.  J.  McCafferty,  Lowell, 
Mass.;  P.  M.  McGlynn,  Fall  River,  Mass.;  J.  W. 
Mahone,  Brookton,  Mass. ;  James  J.  Nolen,  Lynn, 
Mass. ;  William  J.  Gleason,  Cleveland,  O. ;  Rev. 
T.  Walsh,  Waterbury,  Conn.  ;  Captain  Lawrence 
O'Brien  and  James  Reynolds,  New  Haven,  Conn. ; 
Hon.  Robert  Liddell,  Mayor  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa. ; 
J.  H.  Mellen,  Daily  Times,  Worcester,  Mass.  ; 
James  Doran  and  Rev.  H.  P.  Lalor,  Danbury, 
Conn. 

Mr.  Gleason  was  a  delegate  to  the  Irish  Land 
League  National  Convention  at  Chicago,  in  1882, 
and  a  member  of  its  Committee  on  Permanent 
Organization.  He  was  also  a  deleofate  to  the 
Irish  Race  Convention  in  Philadelphia,  in  1883, 
and  was  one  of  its  secretaries,  besides  being 
chosen  the  executive  member  for  Ohio.  He  was  a 
delegate  to  the  Irish  National  League  Conven- 
tion at  Boston,  in  1884,  ^"^  acted  as  its  Chief 
Secretary,  and  was  also  Chairman  of  the  Ohio 
Deleeation  at  the  National  Land  Leao^ue  Conven- 
tion  in  Chicago,  in  1886,  His  State  elected  him 
its  executive  member,  and  subsequently  President 
John  Fitzgerald  appointed  him  a  member  of  the 
"  Council  of  Seven,"  or,  as  it  has  been  aptly 
termed,  "  The  Irish-American  Cabinet."     He  has 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  639 

been  President  of  Parnell  Branch,  No.  38,  of 
the  Irish  National  League,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  since 
its  organization,  and  very  few,  if  any,  branches 
have  raised  more  money  for  the  nadonal  cause 
than  No.  ^S.  In  season  and  out  of  season  he  has 
held  the  banner  of  Irish  nationality  aloft  in  Cleve- 
land, and  has  vigorously  aided  in  forming  public 
opinion  favorably  towards  Ireland's  right  to  self- 
crovernment,  and  in  orcranizinof  men  and  collect- 
ing  money  for  her  help. 

The  cause  of  Irish  Nationality  udll  never  die 
out  in  Cleveland  while  William  J.  Gleason  or  any 
of  his  patriotic  sons  live.  Since  the  days  of  Feni- 
anism  to  the  present,  he  has  been  continually  on 
duty  working  for  the  cause  of  Ireland.  Scarcely 
a  week  has  passed  in  all  of  the  past  twenty  years 
that  he  has  not  written  or  made  speeches  to  mould 
public  opinion  in  favor  of  Ireland's  right  to  self- 
government.  He  has  been  a  faithful  adherent  to 
the  leaders  and  principles  of  the  Land  League 
and  the  Nadonal  League,  and  his  numerous 
writings  and  speeches  have  always  been  loyal 
and  patriotic  to  his  native  land.  Several  extracts 
from  his  public  addresses  have  already  been  given, 
but  this  sketch  of  his  active  and  busy  life  would 
not  be  complete  without  quoting  from  some  of  the 
other  utterances  which  have  come  from  him  at 
various  times.  While  makinof  arranoements  to 
celebrate  the  Robert  Emmet  Centennial,  in  1878, 
he  issued  an  appeal  to  the  Irishmen  of  Cleveland^ 


640  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

in  which  he  said :  "  Robert  Emmet  sealed  his  de- 
votion to  Ireland  by  offering  up  his  gallant  and  pure 
young  life  as  a  sacrifice  on  the  altar  of  his  country, 
for  the  principle  of  establishing  a  free  and  inde- 
pendent republic  in  his  native  land,  in  which  ail 
of  his  countrymen  would  enjoy  liberty  and  stand 
upon  an  equality.  As  Emmet  died  for  all  Ire- 
land, so  all  Irishmen,  irrespective  of  creed  or  clan, 
ought  to  unite  in  a  fitting  demonstration  in  honor 
of  Ireland's  illustrious  patriot.  Turn  out  wear- 
ing the  tri-color — the  emblem  of  Irish  Nationality, 
or  wearing  our  own  immortal  green."  His  writ- 
ings all  through  show  the  promptings  of  a  patriotic 
heart  and  mind  to  secure,  what  was  always  upper- 
most in  his  thoughts,  the  independence  and  wel- 
fare of  Ireland. 

The  history  of  the  Irish  cause  in  America  can 
never  be  fully  told  without  reference  to  the  activi- 
ties and  practical  interest  that  have  been  shown 
for  the  past  two  decades  by  James  Reynolds 
(known  as  "  Catalpa  Jim"),  of  New  Haven, 
Conn.  A  staunch  and  uncompromising  believer 
in  the  right  of  universal  freedom,  he  has  always 
come  to  the  front  in  any  practical  movement  for 
the  weal  of  his  native  land.  Never  faltering, 
even  when  the  sacrifice  of  his  worldly  resources 
was  demanded,  the  voice  of  his  country  has  dom- 
inated all  his  being,  and  next  to  the  love  of  his 
Maker  comes  the  reverent  devotion  that  he  has 
for  the  land  of  his  birth.     James  Reynolds   is  a 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  641 

pure,  unselfish  patriot ;  around  his  name  breathes 
a  lustre  undimmed  by  a  single  thought  of  personal 
ambition,  the  faintest  breath  of  self-interest  or  in- 
dividual aggrandizement.  Other  men  have  given 
greater  intellectual  gifts  to  the  service  of  Ireland; 
others  have  told  her  wrongs  with  a  sublimer  magic 
of  eloquence,  and  waked  the  sympathies  of  men  in 
the  sweep  of  their  mighty  oratory,  and  still  others, 
perhaps,  have  braved  a  larger  measure  of  personal 
danger ;  but  none  has  devoted  his  whole  energies, 
his  entire  worldly  fortune  with  a  loftier  patriotism, 
a  more  generous  spirit  of  sacrifice  than  James 
Reynolds  has  for  the  little  isle  that  gave  him 
birth. 

James  Reynolds  comes  naturally  by  his  patriot- 
ism, for  he  springs  from  a  noble  and  patriotic 
strain.  His  ancestry  dates  back  over  fourteen 
hundred  years  to  the  noble  sept  Mac  Raghnaill, 
v;hich  the  Irish  historians  tell  us  was  a  branch  of 
the  tribe  called  the  Conmaie,  whose  founder  was 
Conmacni,  third  son  of  Fergus  Mac  Roigh,  by 
Meive,  the  celebrated  Queen  of  Connaught,  in 
the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era.  The 
ancient  territory  of  the  Mac  Rannells  (of  which 
the  surname  Reynolds  was  a  corruption)  was 
called  Conmacni  Moy  Rein — otherwise  Muinter 
Eois ;  it  lay  in  the  County  of  Leitrim,  and  was 
co-extensive  with  the  modern  baronies  of  Leitrim 
and  Garrycastle,  all  bordering  upon  Annally,  in 
the   north    of    the   County   of    Longford.     The 


642  GLADSTONE— PA  RNELL. 

Mac  Rannells  had  castles  at  Rinn,  Leitrim   and 
Lough  Scur.     James  Reynolds  himself  is  a  native 
of  the  County  Cavan,  where  he  was  born  on  the 
20th  of  October,  1831.     He  was  but  sixteen  years 
of  age  when,  during  the  memorable  famine  that 
peopled  the  cemeteries  of  Ireland,  he  bade  adieu 
to  his  native  heath  and  sailed  away  to  the  distant 
shores  of  America,  bearing  with  him  a  freight  of 
precious  memories  that  were  to  bear  fruit  In  after- 
years  of  patriotic  endeavor.     On  his   arrival   in 
this  country  he  at  once  apprenticed  himself  to 
learn   the  brass-founding  trade,  and  In    1850  he 
settled  In  Connecticut  which  has  ever  since  been 
his  home.     For  twenty  years  and  more  he  has 
been  a  resident  of  New   Haven,  where  he  has 
received  repeated  political  honors  at  the  hands  of 
his    fellow-citizens.     He    served  three   years   as 
Alderman,  during  two  of  which  he  was  President 
of  the  Board,  and  in  that  capacity  was  at  various 
times  acting  Mayor  of  New  Haven.     For  seven 
years  he  has  been  at  the  head  of  the  town  govern- 
ment, being  elected  town  agent  every  year  since 
1879  with  increasing  majorities;  the  only  Irish- 
man who  has  ever  been  elevated  to  this  position 
In  a  city  where  Puritanic  influences  and  prejudices 
have  not  yet  wholly  passed  away.     Nothing  could 
indicate  more  forcibly  the  high  regard  In  which  he 
Is  held  by  his  fellow-townsmen.     In  November  of 
the  present  year  he  was  the  Democratic  nominee 
for  Sheriff  of  New  Haven  County,  the  first  and 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  643 

only  Irishman  ever  honored  thus,  but  owing  to 
race  prejudices  and  internal  dissensions  in  the 
party  he  was  defeated  by  a  small  margin.  In 
addition  to  his  official  duties  as  town  accent  of  New 
Haven,  Mr.  Reynolds  conducts  a  lucrative  and 
somewhat  extensive  business  as  a  brass-founder. 

A  born  patriot,  James  Reynolds  early  espoused 
the  cause  of  his  country,  and  brought  to  its  ser- 
vice all  the  energies  of  an  active  and  impulsive 
nature.  When  in  the  years  following  the  Ameri- 
can Rebellion  Irish  patriotism  was  directed  in  an 
active  movement  ao^ainst  Eno-land  througrh  her 
colonies  in  America,  we  find  him  foremost  among 
those  whose  financial  resources  flov^^ed  freely  into 
the  common  treasury.  Not  when  his  practical 
mind  told  him  that  not  here  lay  the  channel  to 
Ireland's  freedom  did  he  close  his  purse-strings; 
not  even  when  a  prudent  judgment  convinced 
him  that  here  lay  a  waste  of  Irish  blood  and  hu- 
man treasures  did  he  say  nay  to  the  appeal  for 
funds.  It  was  enough  for  him  to  know  that  even 
one  blow  was  struck  at  England,  one  thrust  was 
made  in  the  great  cause  of  Irish  freedom.  James 
Reynolds  never  believed  that  the  liberation  of 
Ireland  was  to  be  effected  through  the  conquest 
of  Canada.  His  strongr  native  sense  and  sajja- 
cious  foresight  taught  him  the  folly  of  such  a 
hope.  Yet  when  the  movement  was  inaugurated 
he  entered  into  it  heart  and  soul,  with  all  the  en- 
th.usiasm  of  his  noble  nature,  hopeful  that  even 


g44  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

one  blow  might  be  struck  at  the   shackles   that 
bound  his  country. 

But  it  was  in  the  Catalpa  movement  that  his 
great  patriotism  found  its  highest  opportunity, 
and  the  name  of  James  Reynolds  gained  the  im- 
perishable splendor  of  immortal  fame.  The  his- 
tory of  that  memorable  expedition  is  still  fresh  in 
the  memory  of  Irishmen  :  how  the  little  barque 
with  its  gallant  crew  sailed  into  Australian  waters, 
and  bore  away  its  precious  freight,  bringing  to 
freedom  and  glory  those  patriots  who  were  expi- 
ating in  exile  their  efforts  for  Ireland,  bidding 
bold  defiance  to  the  British  man-of-war,  who 
gave  her  chase,  and  riding  safely  into  the  harbor 
of  New  York — all  these  details  are  still  green  in 
the  Irish  memory.  And  while  the  fame  of  this 
daring  rescue  shall  last,  while  the  name  of  Catal- 
pa shall  wake  and  fan  the  fires  of  Irish  enthusi- 
asm, so  long  will  the  name  of  James  Reynolds  be 
held  in  fond  and  loving  remembrance.  For  it 
was  he  who  mortgaged  his  home,  who  placed  a 
chattel  upon  his  household  goods,  who  beggared 
himself  for  the  time  that  the  sinews  might  be 
forthcoming  to  inaugurate  and  sustain  the  expe- 
dition. Other  choice  spirits  lent  him  their  coun- 
sels and  their  fortunes,  but  James  Reynolds  gave 
his  all  that  the  Catalpa  rescue  might  be  consum- 
mated. True,  the  success  of  the  expedition  re- 
compensed him  in  a  measure  for  his  financial  sac- 
rifices;  it  brought  back  some  of  the  litde  fortune 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  645 

he  freely  gave  in  the  cause  ;  but  his  chief  reward, 
the  glory  of  his  great  heart  and  the  pride  of  his 
noble  life,  is  the  memory  which  he  treasures, 
which  his  children  and  his  children's  children  will 
carry  in  their  hearts,  that  his  sacrifices  were  not 
in  vain — that  they  brought  humiliation  to  Eng- 
land, liberty  and  happiness  to  the  rescued  patri- 
ots, and  eternal  fame  and  glory  to  Ireland. 

When  the  Land  Leao^ue  movement  was  inau- 
gurated  James  Reynolds  at  once  actively  inter- 
ested himself,  and  was  one  of  the  leading  dele- 
gates at  its  first  National  Convention.  He  has 
been  a  member  of  every  succeeding  one,  and 
served  in  every  one  of  these  gatherings  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions.  He  was 
for  several  years  a  member  of  the  Executive 
Council,  the  Committee  of  Seven,  and  took  active 
control  of  the  League  in  Connecticut.  He  in- 
fused much  of  his  own  enthusiasm  into  the  move- 
ment, and  during  his  administration  the  Land 
League  of  the  Nutmeg  State  was  well  to  the 
front  in  point  of  numbers  and  the  character  and 
influence  of  its  work.  Mr.  Reynolds  is  now,  and 
has  been  for  years,  a  leading  member  of  the  Clan- 
na-Gael  Society,  and  is  a  strong  adherent  of  its 
national  creed.  Personally,  he  is  a  man  of  genial 
temperament,  frank,  guileless  and  companiona- 
ble, unaffected  in  manners  or  speech,  open-handed 
and  generous ;  a  man  whose  friendships  are  firm 
and  lasting ;  a  citizen  whose  activities  are  always 

38 


646  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

beneficial.  His  patriotism  and  love  for  Ireland  is 
pure  as  the  spotless  lily ;  with  hope  springing 
eternal  in  his  breast  he  looks  for  the  morn  when 
the  sunburst  of  freedom  shall  illumine  his  native 
land,  and  the  minstrel  shall  sine  once  aofain  the 
glories  of  a  free  and  united  Ireland. 

Edward  Johnson,  of  Watertown,  Wisconsin, 
was  born  in  the  Parish  of  Killaloe,  County  Clare, 
Ireland,  in  1822,  and  emigrated  to  the  United 
States  in  the  year  1836,  being  then  fourteen 
years  old.  Like  the  great  majority  of  Ireland's 
sons  and  dauo^hters,  he  labored  under  a  lono- 
train  of  difficulties  entailed  on  the  people  by  the 
policy  and  action  of  the  British  Government,  and 
hence  acquired  and  inherited  a  dislike  for  that 
Government  which  has  grown  in  intensity  with 
the  lapse  of  time.  He  was  educated  in  the  Cath- 
olic faith,  and  learned  the  business  of  a  druggist 
and  pharmacist.  After  numerous  severe  trials, 
unknown  to  many  of  the  youth  of  the  present  day, 
in  the  spring  of  1844  he  commenced  business  in 
the  village  of  Watertown  (now  a  city  of  eight 
thousand  inhabitants),  Wisconsin,  at  a  time  that 
tried  the  courage  and  perseverance  of  men.  The 
remnant  of  Black  Hawk  warriors  were  beinof  run 
down  by  United  States  Cavalry;  the  wolf  was 
looking  in  at  the  door,  and  the  land  covered  with 
a  dense  forest.  After  eight  years  of  fruitless  ef- 
fort, on  account  of  the  sparseness  of  people,  he 
sold  out  his  business,  and  in  the  summer  of  1852 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  647 

crossed  the  plains,  the  party  with  which  he  was 
travelling  being  a  number  of  times  attacked  by 
Indians  and  many  lives  lost.  The  adventures 
left  a  terrible  impression  on  his  mind  of  hardship 
and  danger.  In  the  fall  of  1854  he  returned  to 
Watertown,  and  commenced  the  practice  of  his 
profession  under  brighter  prospects,  and  contin- 
ued it  until  1874,  when  he  retired  to  a  suburban 
residence  of  comfortable  pretensions. 

Mr.  Johnson  has  always  been  enlisted  in  the 
Irish  struggle  for  liberty,  and  now  that  his  once 
strong  arm  is  no  longer  able  to  respond  to  the 
will,  he  deems  his  life  but  half-filled  because  the 
time  had  not  come  to  make  it  felt  in  paying  Eng- 
land back  with  interest  for  the  wrongs  heaped  upon 
his  countrymen.  He  was  in  sympathy  with  the 
men  of  '48,  and  in  1866  invited  Thos.  F.  Meagher 
to  Watertown,  where  he  lectured  before  an 
audience  of  nearly  three  thousand  people.  He 
also  raised  considerable  money  for  the  famine- 
stricken  people  of  Ireland,  and  organized  the  first 
branch  of  the  Land  League  in  Watertown,  which 
is  still  in  active  service.  He  was  a  delegate  to 
the  two  National  League  Conventions  in  Chicago, 
and  also  to  the  Milwaukee  Convention,  wdien,  by  a 
unanimous  vote,  he  was  elected  State  Treasurer 
of  the  National  League,  a  position  which  he  still 
retains.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  committee 
to  visit  Washington  and  lay  before  President 
Arthur  the  action  of  the  convention  in  opposing 


g48  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

forced  emigration  by  England  of  her  pauper- 
made  subjects.  He  is  a  believer  in  the  doctrine 
that  Irishmen  everywhere  ought  to  put  them- 
selves in  active  force  against  England  if  they 
would  save  the  remnant  of  the  people  from 
extermination. 

Judge  James  W.  Fitzgerald,  of  Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  was  born  in  Queenstown,  Ireland,  about  the 
year  1837,  ^"^  received  a  good  collegiate  educa- 
tion before  leaving  his  native  land.  While  still  a 
young  man  he  came  to  the  United  States  and 
settled  in  the  West,  selecting  the  city  of  Cincin- 
nati as  his  home,  where  he  continues  to  reside. 
From  his  earliest  youth  Judge  Fitzgerald  has 
taken  an  active  interest  in  Irish  affairs,  and  from 
his  boyhood  has  been  connected  with  Irish  na- 
tional organizations.  Before  the  breaking  out  of 
the  Civil  War  he  was  a  pronounced  Abolitionist, 
and  from  1861  to  1872  took  an  active  interest  in 
the  Republican  party.  When  Horace  Greeley 
ran  for  the  Presidency  he  found  in  Mr.  Fitzgerald 
an  earnest  worker,  and  since  then  he  has  been 
identified  with  the  Democratic  party.  He  was 
elected  to  the  Cincinnati  City  Council  several 
terms  by  both  parties,  and  for  three  different 
terms  was  its  President.  In  1864  he  w^as  elected 
County  Commissioner,  and  in  1866  was  honored 
with  a  seat  in  the  State  Legislature.  In  the  mean- 
time he  had  commenced  the  study  of  the  law, 
and  in  1868  graduated  from  the  Cincinnati  Law 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  g4Q 

College  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  made 
a  specially  of  criminal  law,  and  in  the  following 
year  was  appointed  assistant  to  Major  Blackburn, 
County  Prosecutor,  where  he  made  for  himself  a 
fine  reputation.  In  1884,  at  the  solicitation  of 
friends,  he  accepted  the  police  judgeship,  a  posi- 
tion which  he  has  since  held  with  credit  to  him- 
self and  the  community.  Judge  Fitzgerald  is  an 
able  speaker  and  is  considered  the  leading  repre- 
sentative Nationalist  of  Cincinnati.  He  is  a  de- 
voetd  adherent  of  Mr.  Parnell  and  his  associates, 
and  has  done  effective  work  throughout  the  country 
in  makinof  Home  Rule  addresses.  Besides,  he  is 
one  of  the  best  Parliamentarians  in  the  country, 
and  has  few  equals  as  a  presiding  officer. 

John  Groves,  of  Omaha,  Nebraska,  one  of  the 
best  known  and  most  respected  Irishmen  in  the 
'  West,  was  born  in  Clough,  County  Down,  Ire- 
land, in  the  year  1S45,  ^^^  "^^'^-^  raised  in  the 
Episcopalian  faith.  He  left  home  in  i860,  when 
fifteen  years  of  a^je,  and  went  to  London  where 
he  entered  the  office  of  a  merchant.  At  that 
early  age  lie  became  an  advocate  in  the  cause  of 
Irish  freedom,  and  while  in  the  capital  of  the 
British  Government  he  associated  with  his  own 
countrymen  and  was  imbued  with  the  same 
patriotic  spirit.  He  was  a  Sergeant  in  the  Lon- 
don and  Irish  Volunteers,  and  in  1867,  just  after 
the  Mancliester  Rescue,  lie  was  arrested  for  his 
connection  with  the  Fenian  movement.    The  arrest 


550  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

caused  considerable  excitement,  and,  after  a 
tedious  trial,  the  Go.vernment  was  obliged  to  give 
up  some  of  its  witnesses,  a  detective  swearing 
that  he  would  not  believe  them  on  their  oath. 
The  principal  witness,  however,  was  the  notorious 
Corydon,  the  informer,  and  as  a  result  of  the 
trial.  Groves  was  sent  to  prison  where  he  re- 
mained eight  months.  Upon  being  released  he 
came  to  America  and  remained  for  some  time  in 
New  York.  He  then  went  to  the  West  and 
located  in  Omaha,  Nebraska,  where  he  entered 
the  service  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railway  Company, 
and  was  soon  advanced  to  the  position  of  chief 
division  clerk.  After  serving  in  that  capacity  for 
some  time  he  left  the  railroad  service,  and 
accepted  the  important  position  of  Deputy  County 
Treasurer,  at  Omaha. 

A  broad-guage,  level-headed  Nationalist  is 
John  F.  Armstrong,  the  widely  known  member 
of  the  firm  of  Daly  &  Armstrong,  wholesale  and 
retail  dealers  in  dry  goods,  in  Augusta,  Georgia. 
He  was  born  near  Tubbercurry,  County  Sligo, 
Ireland,  in  September,  1845,  and  came  to  America 
in  1865,  setding  in  Georgia,  where  he  has  since 
resided.  From  his  earliest  years  he  has  been  an 
Irish  Nationalist  in  sentiment,  and  now  might  be 
fairly  described  as  an  advanced  Nationalist. 
Although  the  city  of  Augusta,  in  which  he  resides, 
has  not  a  large  Irish  population,  yet,  through  his 
efforts  and  those  of   kindred  patriodc  spirits,  it 


"j^&i 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE  ^53 

has  done  well  for  the  Irish  cause.  Before  the 
org-anization  of  the  Land  Leag^ue  in  Aucrusta,  in 
1880,  and  of  which  Mr.  Armstrong  was  the  first 
president,  the  people  contributed  the  sum  of 
$3,500  to  the  Irish  Relief  Fund,  and  have  since 
given  $3,000  to  the  Land  League  and  the  Irish 
National  League  of  America.  He  was  a  delegate 
to  the  convention  of  the  Land  League  held  in 
Philadelphia,  in  April,  1883;  and  to  the  Irish 
National  Convention,  held  in  the  same  city,  and 
since  then  his  leadership,  among  the  Irish  people 
of  Augusta,  has  been  recognized  by  sending  him 
as  a  delegate  to  every  convention  of  the  Irish 
National  League  of  America.  At  the  Land 
League  Convention  in  1883  he  participated  in  the 
debate  on  the  question  of  settling  what  ought  to 
be  done  by  the  League,  pending  action  by  the 
Irish  National  Convention  which  was  to  meet 
immediately  afterwards.  He  favored  the  action, 
which  was  finally  taken,  to  place  the  affairs  of  the 
Land  Leagrue  in  the  hands  of  a  Committee  of 
Seven,  with  power  to  dissolve  it  if  the  platform 
and  proceedings  of  the  Irish  National  Convention 
met  their  approval.  He  was  honored  with  an 
appointment  on  the  committee,  which  declared 
the  Land  League  dissolved  and  merged  into  the 
new  organization,  the  Irish  National  League  of 
America.  He  was  also  elected  by  the  National 
Committee  one  of  the  Executive  Committee  of 
Seven,  and  re-elected  to  the  same  position  after 
the  convention  in  Chicago,  in  January,  1886. 


654  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

After  attending  a  meeting  of  the  National 
Committee,  Mr.  Armstrong  made  a  brief  visit  to 
Ireland,  and  was  authorized  by  the  officers  and 
National  Committee  of  the  Irish  National  Leao^ue 
to  seek  an  interview  with  Mr,  Parnell  for  the 
purpose  of  laying  before  him  certain  matters 
relating  to  the  welfare  of  the  Irish  cause,  and  gave 
him  proper  credentials  for  that  purpose,  In 
regard  to  that  Interview  the  most  ridiculous 
statements  were  made,  both  at  home  and  abroad. 
It  was  said  that  Mr.  Armstrong  was  sent  to 
dictate  and  to  force  upon  Mr.  Parnell  a  more 
aggressive  policy,  threatening  him,  in  the  event 
of  non-compliance,  with  a  withdrawal  of  the 
support  of  the  Irish  National  League  of  America. 
The  facts  of  the  case,  however,  were,  that  Mr. 
Armstrong-  first  met  Mr.  Parnell  at  the  Broadstone 
Station,  Dublin,  on  the  morning  of  Feb.  8,  1886, 
and  not  at  the  House  of  Commons,  as  reported. 
Mr.  Parnell  was  then  going  to  Galway  to  adjust 
some  trouble  that  had  arisen  in  consequence  of 
T.  M.  Healy  and  J.  G.  BIggar  supporting 
Michael  Lynch,  a  local  Nationalist,  for  Parliament, 
against  Capt.  O'Shea,  whom  Mr.  Parnell  was 
anxious  to  see  elected.  Mr.  Armstrong  informed 
him  that  he  had  some  funds  for  the  organization, 
(Rev.  Dr.  O'Reilly,  the  Treasurer,  had  made  him 
the  bearer  of  ^2,000,)  some  letters  to  present, 
and  some  other  matters  to  lay  before  him,  and 
asked  that  a  day  for  an  Interview  be  appointed. 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  655 

This  was  done  by  Mr.  Parnell,  by  naming  Friday, 
February  ist,  at  Morrison's  Hotel,  Dublin.  At 
that  time  a  most  pleasant  interview  of  two  hours 
was  held,  at  which  no  allusions  were  even  made 
in  reference  to  dictation  or  aggressiveness,  and, 
at  its  conclusion,  Mr.  Parnell,  in  a  most  friendly 
manner,  pressed  his  hospitality  upon  his  visitor, 
and  entertained  him  in  a  most  gratifying  manner 
by  detailing  his  expectations  and  hopes  for  the 
future  of  Ireland.  Mr.  Armstrong  parted  with 
the  Irish  leader  on  the  most  friendly  terms,  and 
shortly  afterwards  returned  to  the  United  States 

Mr.  Armstrong  has  also  been  engaged  in  other 
positions  of  trust  and  honor.  He  was  one  of  the 
committee  to  wait  upon  President  Chester  A. 
Arthur,  at  the  Executive  Mansion,  in  Washington, 
to  present  to  him  the  resolution  passed  by  the 
Philadelphia  Convention  in  regard  to  assisted 
emigration.  He  was  married  some  years  ago, 
and  has  had  seven  children,  four  of  whom  are 
livincr. 

Michael  J.  O'Brien,  of  Chattanooga,  Tennes- 
see, was  born  in  County  Cork,  Ireland,  near  the 
city,  in  1844.  His  parents  came  to  America  when 
he  was  an  infant  and  resided  for  some  years  at 
New  York'.  When  he  attained  his  majority  Mi- 
chael concluded  to  try  his  fortune  in  the  South, 
and  removed  to  Tennessee  and  settled  in  Chat- 
tanooga in  1867.  He  embarked  in  business  in 
that  city  in   1869   in  a  very  modest  way,  but  by 


856  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

close  application  and  by  the  exercise  of  the  in 
domitable  energy  which  characterized  him  in  after- 
life he  built  himself  up,  step  by  step,  until  to-day 
he  is  recognized  as  one  of  Chattanooga's  most 
successful  wholesale  merchants.  His  marked 
abilities  were  keenly  appreciated  by  his  fellow- 
citizens,  and  he  has  served  a  term  as  President 
of  the  Board  of  Trade  of  that  flourishing  city  and 
also  as  President  of  the  Iron,  Coal  and  Manufact- 
urers' Association,  the  most  successful  industrial 
organization  in  the  South.  He  is  closely  identi- 
fied with  the  commercial  and  industrial  interests 
of  his  city  and  enjoys  public  confidence  to  the 
fullest  extent.  The  popular  regard  in  which  he 
is  held  by  his  fellow-citizens  was  demonstrated  on 
two  occasions  when  he  came  within  a  few  votes 
of  being  elected  Mayor  of  Chattanooga,  and  re- 
duced the  usual  opposition  majority  seven-eighths. 
In  1883  he  was  elected  Supreme  Treasurer  of  the 
Catholic  Knights  of  America,  and  his  administra- 
tion of  the  affairs  of  that  body  met  with  such 
hearty  indorsement  that  in  1885  he  was  unani- 
mously re-elected.  He  was  the  delegate  from 
Chattanooga  to  the  National  League  Conven- 
tions, and  has  been  for  several  years  President  of 
the  local  branch.  Mr,  O'Brien  is  an  ardent  pa- 
triot, loves  the  land  of  his  birth  as  he  loves  his 
life,  and  has  always  been  quick  to  respond  to 
every  appeal  of  his  countrymen.  His  liberal 
purse  and  eloquent  words  have  ever  been  at  the 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  557 

service  of  his  country,  and  he  has  been  universally 
regarded  as  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  influential 
champions  of  Irish  emancipation  in  the  South. 

Thomas  H.  Walsh,  Executive  Officer  of  the 
Irish  National  League  for  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia, the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  near  Kil- 
sheelan,  in  the  County  of  Tipperary,  Ireland,  on 
the  26th  day  of  May,  1844.  His  father  was  one 
of  the  most  independent  and  extensive  farmers  in 
that  county,  and  many  times  proved  his  devotion 
to  his  native  land,  notably  at  the  batde  of  Carrick- 
shock  (Tithe  War),  in  which  he  received  a  severe 
bayonet  wound  while  fighting  side  by  side  with 
seven  of  his  brothers.  Mr.  W^alsh  emio^rated  to 
this  country  when  a  mere  boy  and  settled  in  Bos- 
ton, Massachusetts,  where  he  studied  and  prac- 
tised the  profession  of  pharmacy.  At  the  early 
age  of  fifteen  years  he  joined  the  Fenian  organi- 
zation and  later  became  a  member  of  other  kin- 
dred Irish  societies,  with  some  of  which  he  is  still 
connected.  In  the  latter  part  of  1865  he  went 
South  and  settled  in  New  Orleans,  Louisiana, 
from  which  place  he  went  to  Savannah,  Georgia, 
succeeding  his  uncle.  Dr.  Walter  M.  Walsh,  in  the 
wholesale  and  retail  drug  business.  Later  he 
went  to  New  York  City,  where  he  married,  and 
soon  after  left  for  Washington,  D.  C,  to  accept  a 
position  under  the  Government.  He  is  at  present 
employed  in  the  War  Department.  Mr.  Walsh 
was  one  of  the  committee  that  received  Mr.  Par- 


658  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

nell  on  his  arrival  in  Washington,  i8So,  and  aided 
in  procuring  for  the  Irish  leader  the  rarely  accord- 
ed privilege  of  addressing  the  members  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  while  in  session.  He 
helped  to  form  and  was  elected  President  of  the 
first  branch  of  the  Irish  Land  Leagfue  of  Wash- 
ington,  D.  C.  In  1884  he  was  elected  a  delegate 
to  the  Boston  Convention  of  the  Irish  National 
League,  the  successor  of  the  Irish  Land  League, 
when  he  was  chosen  its  Executive  Officer  for  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  was  in  January,  1886, 
appointed  by  President  Patrick  Egan  one  of  his 
Executive  Council.  He  was  a^ain  elected  a  dele- 
gate  to  the  Chicago  Convention  held  in  August, 
1886,  and  for  a  second  time  was  chosen  an 
Executive  Officer  of  the  League  for  said  District, 
which  position  he  still  holds. 

AMERICAN    CITIZENSHIP   AND    THE    OWNERSHIP   OF 
AMERICAN    SOIL. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  National  Executive  Com- 
mittee held  in  Chicago  in  April,  1884,  the  Hon. 
M.  V.  Gannon,  of  Iowa,  one  of  its  members,  drew 
attention  with  startling  clearness  to  the  encroach- 
ments being  made  on  American  soil  by  foreign 
"  land-grabbers."  As  a  result  of  his  remarks  and 
of  the  proofs  with  which  he  backed  up  or  sup- 
ported his  assertions,  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  wait  upon  the  approaching  national  convention 
of  each  of  the  great  political  parties  and  request 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  659 

the  insertion  of  a  plank  in  each  of  their  platforms 
pledging  its  party  to  such  legislation  as  would 
make  American  citizenship  indispensable  to  the 
possession  of  American  soil.  The  committee  con- 
sisted of  Hon.  Alexander  Sullivan,  of  Chicago, 
Illinois,  as  chairman ;  Rev.  Charles  O'Reilly, 
D.  D.,  Detroit,  Michigan ;  Thomas  O'Reilly, 
M.  D.,  of  Missouri;  William  M.  ColHns,  of  Ken- 
tucky, and  James  Reynolds,  of  Connecticut.  To 
the  proper  committee  of  each  convention  the  com- 
mittee presented  carefully  prepared  papers  replete 
with  facts,  historical  and  argumentative,  drawing 
attention  to  the  stealthy  growth  of  foreign  land- 
lordism on  our  soil  and  asking  the  committee  to 
take  such  cognizance  of  and  action  upon  the  sub- 
ject as  its  importance  demanded.  Mr.  Sullivan 
and  the  committee  were  heard  with  great  respect 
and  their  request  complied  with. 

The  key-note  that  Alexander  Sullivan  struck 
at  the  Philadelphia  Convention  he  continually  re- 
peated throughout  his  Presidency  of  the  League, 
that  the  Irish  race  in  this  country  is  only  the 
auxiliary,  not  the  dictator,  of  the  race  in  Ireland. 
"  It  is  for  them  to  choose  the  road  which  leads  to 
liberty;  it  is  for  us  to  march  with  them  upon  it," 
was  re-echoed  in  all  his  utterances,  public  and 
private.  When  the  circular  of  Cardinal  Simeoni 
against  the  Parnell  Fund  appeared,  Mr.  Sullivan 
resisted  strong  pressure  from  various  quarters  to 
bring    the    organization    into    apparent    conflict 


660  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

with  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  With  delicate 
tact  and  unfailino-  discretion  he  carried  the  in- 
flamed  feelings  of  the  time  safely  past  the  danger 
that  was  so  apparently  imminent,  and  won  still 
greater  confidence  in  the  soundness  of  his  judg- 
ment and  the  dignity  and  wisdom  of  his  public 
conduct.  He  officially  inaugurated  the  American 
contribution  to  the  Parnell  Testimonial  Fund,  and 
was  the  first  to  send  a  subscription  to  its  worthy 
official  treasurer,  Rev.  T.  J.  Conaty. 

When  the  time  of  the  general  election  ap- 
proached in  Ireland,  Mr.  Sullivan  called  the  Na- 
tional Committee  together  and  advised  that  steps 
be  taken  forthwith  to  create  a  Parliamentary 
Fund  to  meet  the  expenses  in  Ireland  of  car- 
rying every  seat  which  the  Nationalists  might 
hope  to  win.  This  aroused  the  highest  enthusi- 
asm in  Ireland,  and  Mr.  Parnell  wrote  to  Mr. 
Sullivan:  "Your  action  and  that  of  the  Council 
of  the  League  assure  me  that  so  far  as  the  exer- 
tions of  our  countrymen  in  America  can  affect  the 
issue,  we  shall  not  be  left  at  the  next  appeal  to 
the  constituencies  to  fight  alone  and  without  ma- 
terial resources,  but  that  everything  will  be  done 
on  your  side  that  is  possible  to  insure  us  those 
big  battalions  so  favored  by  Providence." 

To  Mr.  Sullivan  can  be  truthfully  and  aptly  ap- 
plied the  quotation  so  appropriately  used  with 
reference  to  Daniel  O'Connell  by  Lord  Charle- 
mont,  in  1838,  at  a  public  banquet  in  Dublin; 


THE  GREAT  IRISH.  STRUGGLE.  gg; 

*"  Justum  et  tenacem  propositi  virum, 
Non  avium  ardor  prava  jubentium  ; 
Non  vultus  instantis  tyranni 
Mente  quatit  solida  '' 

Alexander  Sullivan  was  born  in  Maine,  in 
1847.  ^^  began  the  study  of  law  in  the  ofifice  of 
the  Hon.  Algernon  S.  Sullivan,  of  New  York,  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  of  Illinois  in  1879,  and  began 
the  practice  of  his  profession  in  the  city  of  Chi- 
cago, where  he  now  resides.  Of  slender  figure, 
as  he  stood  at  the  famous  Philadelphia  Conven- 
tion, and  of  medium  height,  his  appearance  is  cal- 
culated to  attract  attention.  A  large  intellectual 
head  is  rounded  with  a  forehead  expressive  of 
unusual  reasoning  faculties.  His  eyes  are  a  keen 
gray.  His  features  have  the  delicacy  of  sculp- 
ture, and  indicate  a  refined,  proud  and  sensitive 
nature.  The  expression  of  his  face  is  gentle  and 
winning,  and  his  manners  are  quiet  and  elegant. 
In  social  intercourse  he  is  reserved  and  a  good 
listener,  but  when  disposed  to  talk  is  found  rich 
in  story  and  anecdote,  and  habitually  avoids 
bringing  politics  or  other  public  affairs  into  pri- 
vate society.  In  the  breadth  and  firmness  of  his 
jaws,  in  the  thin  lips  and  well-set  chin,  his  face 
being  clean-shaven,  in  the  breadth  and  solidity  of 
his  head,  and  the  frank  and  penetrating  glance  of 

*  "  The  man  of  firm  and  righteous  will, 

No  rabble  clamorous  for  the  wrong  , 
No  tyrant's  brow,  whose  frown  may  kill. 

Can  shake  the  strength  that  makes  him  strong." 


662  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

his  eyes,  is  easily  discerned  a  character  in  which 
extraordinary  mental  capacity  is  combined  with 
courage,  tact  and  persistence. 

The  most  superficial  observer  would  see  in  him 
a  man  whose  convictions  would  be  reached  by 
logic,  who  would  hold  them  with  the  grip  of  hon- 
esty and  maintain  them  with  inflinching  firmness 
and  determination.     He  spoke  frequendy  during 
the    convention,  and   the    characteristics    of    his 
oratory  were  at  once  apparent.     His  style,  like 
himself,    is  "clear  and  clean-cut."     He  employs 
no  verbiage,  and  his  speeches  can  be  neither  cut 
nor  condensed,  so  compact  are  they,  so  free  from 
mere  literary  ornamentation.     He  is  argumenta- 
tive and  reasoning  in  speaking  and  writing,  and 
aims    straight   at    men's  common-sense — not   at 
their  imaginations  or  passions.     Unlike  many  of 
his  countrymen  also  endowed  with  the  gift  of  the 
orator  and   capable  of  delivering  with  apparent 
spontaneity   the  coldly  elaborated  efforts  of  the 
closet    and  the  midnight  lamp,  Mr.    Sullivan    is 
said  to  be  unable  to  memorize  even  a  paragraph, 
and  is  at  his  best  if  interrupted  when  speaking. 
Except  in  thorough  study  of  his  topic  he  makes 
no   other   preparation    for   occasional    speaking. 
Indeed,   nearly    all   of  his  finest  speeches  have 
been    born    of  questions  or  interruptions — inci- 
dents    which     discompose     other    orators,    but 
always  bring  his  fine  debative  powers  into  bet- 
ter  play.     He    gesticulates    very    little,    stands 


THE   GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  gg3 

solidly  on  both  feet  when  speaking,  apart  from 
table  or  desk,  and  is  to  all  outward  appearance 
calm  and  composed  himself,  although  the  temper 
of  his  oratory  is  intense  and  passionate.  He  has 
been  known  to  hold  thousands  in  rapt  attention 
in  great  halls  and  in  vast  open  air  meetings  for 
more  than  two  hours  at  a  time  without  a  muscu- 
lar change  on  his  own  part  beyond  the  rare  but 
graceful  use  of  his  right  arm  and  hand.  His 
voice,  while  not  heavy,  is  surprisingly  far-carrying, 
and  clear  as  a  bell. 

He  began  his  political  life  before  he  was  old 
enough  to  vote  as  an  advocate  of  equal  rights  for  all 
men,  without  distinction  of  race,  creed  or  color,  and 
"stumped"  the  State  of  Michigan  in  support  of  a 
constitutional  amendment  giving  suffrage  to  the 
emancipated  negroes  before  the  adoption  of  the 
Sixteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  Mr.  Sullivan  supported  Horace 
Greeley  for  President  on  the  National  Demo- 
cratic ticket,  but  has  generally  voted  with  the 
Republican  party.  His  services  to  the  Irish 
cause  were  given  freely  and  without  price.  He 
never  would  accept  even  the  smallest  return  for  his 
expenses.  To  recompense  him  for  them,  even  in  a 
slight  way,  as  well  as  in  some  measure  to  express 
their  admiration  of  his  character  and  services, 
General  Michael  Kerwin,  of  the  New  York  Tablet, 
and  a  number  of  leading  men  of  the  Irish  race, 
quietly  subscribed  a  considerable  sum  for  a  testi- 

39 


664  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

monlal  to  him.  Only  after  the  movement  had 
made  considerable  progress  did  it  come  to  his 
knowledge,  and  he  at  once  directed  that  the  checks 
should  be  returned  to  the  subscribers. 

PATRICK   EGAN    TAKES    THE    REINS. 

The  Second  Annual  Convention  of  the  Irish 
National  League  of  America  began  its  sessions 
in  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  Massachusetts,  on  the 
morning  of  Wednesday,  August  13,  1884,  and 
continued  until  the  afternoon  of  the  following 
day.  Over  eight  hundred  delegates  were  present, 
representing  branches  of  the  League  in  vigorous 
existence  in  every  part  of  the  United  States  and 
Canada,  as  well  as  in  Nova  Scotia.  Thomas 
Sexton,  M.  P.,  and  William  Redmond,  M.  P., 
represented  Mr.  Parnell  and  the  League  in  Ire- 
land. General  McAdaras,  of  Paris,  France,  (at 
one  time  erroneousl}^  supposed  by  the  press  of 
this  country  and  England  to  be  the  justly  cele- 
brated "No.  I,"  for  whose  capture  and  welfare 
the  authorities  of  Great  Britain  showed  them- 
selves to  be  most  affectionately  solicitous,)  Uni:ed 
States  Senator  Jones,  Mrs.  Delia  T.  S.  Parnell 
and  other  distinguished  persons  were  on  the 
stage.  The  convention  was  called  to  order  by 
President  Sullivan. 

The  President's  opening  address  was  a  stirring 
one.  He  set  forth  the  present  attitude  of  the  Irish 
question  with  great  force,  and  closed  as  follows : 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  gg5 

"Fellow-countrymen,  the  only  credentials  rec- 
ognized on  this  floor  are  the  credentials  of  the 
Irish  National  League.     On  yonder  threshold  we 
dropped  our  character  as  members  of  American 
parties.     The   only  demand    the    Irish    National 
League  makes  in  American  politics  is  the  demand 
for  the  elevation  of  American  citizenship  at  hoaie 
and  abroad.     It  makes  that  demand  of  all  parties, 
and  it  makes  it  so  determinedly  that  every  party 
must  respect  it.     It  makes  that  demand  not  in 
the  name  of  the  distant  island  whence  we  sprang; 
it  makes  it  in  the  name  of  the  American  Repub- 
lic, of  which  we  are  a  part.     It  makes  it  not  for 
the    man    of   Irish    blood    alone ;    but   for  every 
American,  native  and  adopted,  whether  Celt  or 
German,   Scandinavian   or    Russian.     In    mutual 
respect  and  fervent  brotherhood,  manfully  uncon- 
scious of  those  matters  whereon  we  rightfully  dif- 
fer as  Americans,  let  our  debates  be  so  conducted 
that  all  parties  shall  fear  and  respect  us,  and  that 
our  highest  title  to  their  fear  shall  be  our  devo- 
tion to  the  republic  and  our  respect  for  ourselves. 
"We  meet  in  the  historic  city  of  the  republic, 
hallowed  by  the  earliest  struggles  of  the  Ameri- 
can people  against  the  foe  whom   Ireland  shall 
yet  win   to   terms   of  peace — struggles  in  which 
our    race    was    valiant    in    arms  and  discreet  in 
council.     We  meet  in  the  hall  over  which  the  Ge- 
nius of  Liberty  presides  ;  whose  walls  have   re- 
sounded to  the  inspired  words  of  him  who  stands 


666  GLADSTONE— PAKNELL. 

to  all  lands  and  all  races  and  all  ages  as  the  ideal 
of  American  citizenship — the  lover  of  Emmet,  the 
friend  of  O'Connell — Wendell  Phillips.  The 
proudest  name  to  which  we  aspire  we  accept  as 
he  realized  it,  with  its  highest  and  fullest  signifi- 
cance, with  all  its  responsibilities  and  all  its  duties 
— the  name  of  American  citizen.  To  ennoble 
it  by  our  character  as  a  race,  and  conduct  as  indi- 
viduals, is  the  resolve  of  every  man  who  is  deter- 
mined to  aid  his  countrymen  in  the  achievement 
of  national  self-government  for  Ireland." 

The  temporary  officers  of  the  convention  were: 
President,  Hon.  James  Mooney,  of  Buffalo,  New 
York  ;  Secretaries,  Charles  McGlave,  of  Philadel- 
phia, Pa. ;  M.  J.  Griffin,  of  Iowa,  and  Thomas  J. 
Flatley,  of  Massachusetts.  At  the  suggestion 
of  Alexander  Sullivan,  Messrs.  Sexton  and  Red- 
mond were  added  to  the  Committee  on  Resolu- 
tions for  two  reasons :  first,  because  nothing 
should  be  expressed  which  might  embarrass  the 
gentlemen  considering  the  intent  of  the  coercion 
act,  which  made  it  an  offence  for  an  Irish  subject 
to  be  affiliated  with  people  in  any  act  which  might 
be  construed  as  an  unlawful  act  ap'ainst  the  Gov- 
ernment ;  and  second,  because  the  utterances  of 
the  convention,  which  represented  the  Irish  of 
America,  should  have  the  hearty  approval  of 
Messrs.  Sexton  and  Redmond,  as,  when  the  Irish 
spoke,  they  meant  to  speak  as  a  unit. 

Addresses  were  made  by  Mrs.  Parnell,  Thomas 


THE   GREAT   IRISH  STRUGGLE.  667 

Sexton,  William  Redmond,  M.  V.  Gannon,  U.  S. 
Senator  Jones,  and  others.  As  Mr.  Sexton,  one 
of  the  most  eloquent  orators  of  the  Irish  Parlia- 
mentary party,  especially  represented  Mr.  Parnell, 
and  as  his  remarks  were  very  much  misrepre- 
sented and  distorted  by  interested  and  malicious 
falsifiers  in  England,  I  quote  the  speech  which  he 
made  on  that  occasion  : 

"The  chairman  has  just  introduced  me  to  you," 
said  he,  "  as  *  Mr.  Sexton  from  Ireland,'  but  as  I 
listened  to  the  generous  cheers  with  which  you 
received  our  introduction,  I  found  it  hard  to  be- 
lieve that  I  was  not  Mr.  Sexton  in  Ireland,  because 
nowhere  upon  the  soil  of  Ireland  to-day  would 
the  appearance  of  any  public  man — not  even  in 
Connemara,  nor  upon  the  plains  of  Tipperary — 
be  greeted  with  a  cheer  more  evidently  sprung 
from  the  bottom  of  the  Irish  heart,  more  obviously 
uttered  by  the  Irish  tongue,  more  clearly  proof 
of  that  indestructible  adhesion  to  one  another  of 
the  scattered  fragments  of  all  the  Irish  race, 
which  neither  time,  nor  circumstance,  nor  calam- 
ity, nor  disaster,  has  ever  been  able  to  break 
down.  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  it  is  this  solidarity 
of  the  Irish  race — it  is  this  obstinate  adhesion  of 
men  and  women,  our  kith  and  kin,  to  the  cause, 
to  the  hopes,  to  the  rights  of  their  race  and  their 
country — it  is  this  obstinate  and  indestructible 
spirit  of  union  and  perseverance — that  are  making 
us  in  Ireland   feel  that  it  is  no  longer  with  hope. 


663  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

but  with  absolute  confidence,  that  we  regard  the 
future,  because  the  oppressor  is  made  to  feel,  as 
the  world  feels  to-day,  that  he  has  no  longer  to 
deal  merely  with  a  small  and  isolated  island,  with 
5,000,000  of  weak  and  disarmed  people,  but  that 
he  has  to  grapple  with  the  intellect,  the  force,  the 
public  opinion  of  25,000,000  of  the  Irish  race 
scattered  by  his  own  evil  policy  all  the  world 
over,  affecting  by  their  intelligence,  their  organiza- 
tion, their  union,  the  policy  and  the  conduct  of  the 
greatest  governments  upon  the  surface  of  the 
earth.  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  in  the  name  of 
the  Irish  people  and  of  the  Irish  National  League 
and  of  the  Irish  parliamentary  party  and  its  illus- 
trious leader,  I  salute  this  great  convention  of 
our  race  upon  the  American  continent — this  con- 
vention which,  by  the  good  order  and  the  pro- 
priety of  its  deliberations,  by  the  discretion  and 
judgment  of  the  conclusions  at  which  it  shall 
arrive,  will  prove  to  all  observers,  in  defiance  of 
all  calumniators,  that  capacity  for  deliberation  on 
important  questions,  and  for  self-government 
which  our  enemies  would  fain  deny  us.  In  pay- 
ing my  first  visit  to  this  great  country,  which  I 
have  long  wished  to  visit,  both  as  a  lover  of  na- 
tional liberty  and  also  as  an  Irishman,  I  count 
myself  peculiarly  fortunate  in  that  I  am  able  to 
condense  into  an  experience  of  a  few  hours  in 
this  city  of  Boston  what  otherwise  I  could  not 
hope  to  gain  by  even  years  of  travel.     For  here, 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  QQQ 

in  this  historic  hall,  here  in  the  very  cradle  where 
American  liberty  was  nursed,  here  in  the  heart  of 
this  illustrious  city  of  Boston,  rich  in  traditions  of 
heroism  and  of  bravery,  rich  in  traditions  of  pa- 
triotic self-sacrifice  and  of  devotion  to  liberty — I 
say  it  is  my  peculiar  good  fortune  to  meet  in  this 
inspiring  arena  an  assembly  of  men  representing 
every  State  and  party  of  this  Union — an  assembly 
of  men  the  natural  leaders  of  the  Irish  race  upon 
the  continent  of  America — n;en  qualified  by  public 
service,  by  character,  by  capacity,  by  devotion,  to 
interpret  the  thoughts  and  to  utter  the  sentiments 
of  the  Irish  race  upon  this  great  continent  of 
America.  I  also  congratulate  the  convention  in 
that  it  is  the  first  assembly  graced  by  the  presence 
of  the  gifted  lady  who  in  your  presence  here  to- 
night verifies,  emphasizes  and  enriches  the  tradi- 
tion of  the  devotion  of  her  family  to  the  cause  of 
liberty.  For,  as  in  this  very  town  relatives  of  this 
distinguished  lady  have  asserted  themselves  in 
the  cause  of  American  liberty,  so  she  is  here  to- 
night with  a  sympathy  as  noble  as  theirs  is,  and 
with  a  soul  as  high,  to  prove  the  steady  continuity 
of  her  devotion  to  the  cause  of  the  people  of  Ire- 
land. To  this  lady,  the  holder  of  a  name  which 
has  won  the  affection  of  the  people  on  both  sides 
of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  ;  to  this  lady,  great  as  a  wo- 
man and  illustrious  as  a  mother,  we  tender — I  am 
sure  I  may  say  I  can  tender  on  behalf  of  all  of 
you — our  most  respectful  and  cordial  welcome 


370  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  before  I  resume  my  seat 
— for  I  have  promised  not  to  intrude  upon  your 
time  and  your  patience  to-night — I  will  say  that  I 
am  here  as  a  delegate  not  only  of  the  Irish  Par- 
liamentary party,  but  of  the  Irish  National  League; 
that  I  am  here  to  speak  to  you  and  to  speak  to 
the  people  of  America,  not  only  on  behalf  of  that 
party  which  faces  the  oppressor  of  our  country 
on  the  floor  of  the  English  House  of  Commons, 
but  also  to  utter  the  sentiments  of  that  organiza- 
tion which  trains  and  organizes  the  resolution, 
the  ingenuity  and  the  strength  of  the  Irish  people 
for  struggle  upon  the  soil  of  Ireland.  I  am  here 
as  the  representative  of  United  Ireland.  I  am 
here  to  show  that  there  is  no  difference  in  prin- 
ciple— that  there  is  no  difference  in  intention — 
between  the  men  who  front  the  oppressors  of  our 
country  in  the  legislative  arena  and  the  men  who 
conduct  the  public  cause  at  home.  And,  while  I 
declare  that  there  is  at  this  present  moment  per- 
fect identity  of  action,  perfect  unity  of  principle, 
between  the  people  in  Ireland  and  us  who  struggle 
for  them  on  the  floor  of  the  English  House  of 
*■  Commons,  I  believe  I  may  add — and  I  think  ex- 
perience will  verify  my  words — that  it  will  be 
found  that  no  man  who  at  this  moment  commands 
the  confidence  and  the  love  of  the  Irish  people, 
that  no  man  who,  by  suffering  or  by  service,  has 
endeared  himself  to  their  hearts,  will  be  found, 
in  the  critical  future  which  is  soon   approaching, 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  671 

and  which  will  decide  not  only  the  social  rights, 
but  the  political  claims  of  our  race — I  believe  I 
may  say  with  confidence  that  no  such  man  will  be 
found  to  interpose  any  personal  view  or  prefer- 
ence of  his  own  if  he  finds  that  the  intervention 
of  any  such  personal  view  would  have  the  effect 
of  injuring  the  unity  of  the  people,  or  endanger- 
ing the  success  of  their  cause.  Speaking  to  you, 
then,  gentlemen,  as  the  spokesman  of  a  united 
Ireland,  I  would  say  that  I  have  confidence  that 
you  will  prove  on  this  occasion  that  the  Irish  race, 
long  schooled  in  political  adversity,  have  learned 
to  extract  from  it  sweet  results  that,  looking  back 
upon  the  past  of  our  country  disfigured  along 
the  hideous  track  of  oppression  and  of  suffering 
by  many  an  evil  landmark  of  disunion — looking 
back  upon  that  past,  I  say,  you  will  resolve  that 
the  historian  shall  not  have  it  to  say  that  you 
added  to  those  landmarks  of  disunion — you  will 
resolve  to  reflect  in  your  conduct,  and  in  your 
conclusions  here,  that  unity  to  which  the  Irish 
people  at  home  have  been  driven  by  long  ex- 
perience and  by  bitter  suffering ;  that,  whatever 
conclusion  you  may  come  to,  it  will  be  the  conclu- 
sion of  you  all ;  that,  whatever  step  you  may  de- 
cide to  take  to  advance  the  programme  of  the 
National  League  and  to  help  the  cause  of  the 
land  which  you  love  with  a  love  undeviating  and 
changeless ;  that,  whatever  step  you  may  take  to 
strike  down  the  power  of  the  oppressor,  you  will 


672  GLADSTONE— PARNELL 

Strike  down  all  together,  and  that  there  shall  be 
no  disunion  in  your  ranks." 

The  permanent  officers  of  the  convention  were: 
President,  Hon.  M.  V.  Gannon,  of  Iowa;  Vice- 
Presidents  :  Hon.  Thomas  Sexton,  M.  P.,  and  Wil- 
Ham  Redmond,  M.  P.,  of  Ireland ;  J.  J.  Sheehan, 
of  California ;  James  Reynolds,  of  Connecticut ; 
P.  McCartney,  of  District  of  Columbia ;  J.  F.  Arm- 
strong, of  Georgia ;  John  M.  Smyth,  of  Illinois  ; 
John  Lamb,  of  Indiana ;  M.  H.  King,  of  Iowa  ; 
John  Wallace,  of  Louisiana  ;  Rev.  M.  A.  McFeely, 
of  Kentucky ;  Thos.  J.  Fladey,  of  Massachusetts  ; 
S.  Jordan,  of  Missouri ;  Patrick  Martin,  of  Mary- 
land ;  Col.  J.  Atkinson,  of  Michigan  ;  Patrick 
Egan,  of  Nebraska ;  M.  B.  Holmes,  of  New 
Jersey ;  Dr.  W.  B.  Wallace,  of  New  York  ;  Col. 
John  O'Byrne,  of  Ohio ;  James  O'Sullivan,  of 
Pennsylvania ;  Patrick  McGovern,  of  Virginia  ; 
H.  W.  McGettrick,  of  Vermont ;  J.  J.  Hayes,  of 
New  Hampshire;  D,  F.  Powers,  of  Nova  Scotia; 
H.  J.  Carroll,  of  Rhode  Island ;  Col.  M.  Boland, 
of  Colorado  (and  now  of  New  York)  ;  M.  Dono- 
van, of  Canada. 

Secretary,  W.  J.  Gleason,  of  Ohio;  assistant 
secretaries:  Charles  McGlave,  of  Pennsylvania; 
J.  J.  Sheehan,  of  Massachusetts ;  M.  L.  Biggane, 
of  New  York;  Dr.  W.  H.  Cole,  of  Maryland. 

The  treasurer.  Dr.  Chas.  O'Reilly,  presented 
the  following  statement  of  receipts  and  disburse- 
ments, which  the  auditing  committee,  after  exami- 
nation, pronounced  "correct:" 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  673 

STATEMENT  OF   RECEIPTS 

Charles  G' Reilly,  Treasurer,  in  account  with  Irish  National  League  of 
America. 
Amounls  received  from  National  League  Branches,  from  individual  con- 
tributions, proceeds  of  lectures,  donations  to  Irish  National  League,  and 
Parliamentary  Fund,  from  May  i,  1883,  to  August  il,  1884. 

States  Branches              Donations           Par  Fund 

Arkansas $     16  50 

California    1399  3°        $  6-j6  So 

Colorado        22336              79  So 

Connecticut   1085  51               95  00        $  240  14 

Dakota  Territory 8  00 

Delawaie 4985 

Georgia     188  50 

Iowa    18740              5065            21600 

Illinois     3337  55              18  14                200 

Indiana     113  58               29  25 

Kansas 8  75                19  25 

Kentucky     331   20             10800             72000 

Louisiana 192  50             629  05 

Maryland       »7I   75 

Massachusetts 317796           116652             86912 

Michigan        17425              49035 

Missouii    564  75               28  00             450  00 

Minnesota 325   16                                        25  00 

Montana        13  70 

Nebiaska        21200                                     50000 

New  Hampshire    35  00             158  00 

New  York        610660           1744  18             83500 

New  Jersey 105255              145  32             10300 

Ohio    34877           125365             32000 

Oiegon                38  25              loS  30               16  79 

Pennsylvania      3204  77            2020  05              369  00 

Rhode  Island      603  00                65  80 

South  Carolina   5°  00 

Tennessee      23600 

Vii  ginia          86  00 

Wisconsin                349  90            II94  25              lOI  OO 

District  of  Columbia 196  00 

Canada          235  00 

Nova  Scotia  62  50 

Total iS24372  21      ^10093  76        ^767  05 

DISBURSEMENTS, 

Amount  remitted  to  Alfred  Webb,  Dublin 

Expense — Postage,  printing,  stationery,  and  clerical  assistance 
treasurer's  office  from  May  i,  1883,  to  August  i,  1884    . . . 

Rev   P.  A    McKenna  

Rev   P   A    McKenna 

Rev.  Chas.  O'Reilly 


524,397 

50 

871 

42 

145 

>5 

175 

70 

82 

00 

g74  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

J.G.Donnelly $    75  50 

P.  A,  Collins    )  ^„  ^ 

T  F.Doheityl ^o  oo 

Rev   P.  A.  McKenna,  trip  to  Westerly,  R.  I lo  oo 

David  Healy,  expense  from  Albany  to  Columbus,  O.,  to  fill 

Redmond  lect.  engagement 37  60 

Rev.  P  A   McKenna    ...            74  25 

John  G.  Healy,  expenses  Connecticut  Convention   73  68 

Chicago  Office — ■ 

Secretary's  salary,  14  months ;?I,750  CX) 

Requisites  for  general  expenses 1,010  65  -,,760  65 

Cameron,  Amberg  &  Co              369  48 

Buffalo  Catholic  Publication  Co 422  58 

Settlement  John  J.  Hynes,  L.  L.  Secretary 198  70 

$29,734  21 

RECAPITULATION. 

Total  amount  from  Branches ^24,372  21 

Total  amount  from  Donations,  etc.   . .    10,093  7^ 

^34-465  97 

Total  amount  for  Par  Fund $4,767  05 

Remitted  to  Alfred  Webb   24,397  50 

Paid  for  salaries     2,450  00 

General  expenses 2,886  71 

29,734  21 

Expense  Par.  Fund,  cables,  etc 28  00 

Balance  on  hand  August  9,  1884, 

League  and  Par.  Funds $4,731  76   $4,739  ^5 

SUPPLEMENTARY 
August  12  — Received   m   Boston   from   executor  of  Father  Walsh,  late 
Treasurer  of  Land  League,  the  following  financial  statement  of  balance  : 
Apiil  9,  1883,  Philadelphia  Convention,  bal  on  hand.  $5,093  82 

Rent  of  hall,  Philadelphia  Convention  .     $465  00 

Rent  of  executive  head-quaiters.  Continental  Hotel  . .      50  00 

Cablegram  to  Mr   Parnell 300  24 

Remitted  to  Mr.  Parnell 903  lo 

Stamps,  printing,  etc  25  00 

Expenses  clerical  labor  in  treasurer's  office   200  00 

1,943  34 

Balance  turned  over  to  Rev    Chas  O'Reilly,  D  D  , 

Treasurer  Irish  National  League,  Aug  22,  1884  3»I5°  4^ 

Received  in  Boston  League  dues  of  Branches  leport- 

ing  on  floor  of  convention ..  145  5° 

Received  from  treasure) 's  office,  Detroit,  after  depart- 
ure of  treasurer  to  convention      266  25 

Reliable  assets  guaranteed  20000 

Received  for  Parliamentary  Fund  m  Boston 1,1 1 1  00 

$4,873  23 


THE  GREAT  IRISH    STRUGGLE.  675 

Secretary  Walsh's  report  was  similar  in  its 
figures  and  other  important  features  to  that  of 
the  reverend  treasurer.  Rev.  Thomas  J.  Conaty, 
Treasurer  of  the  Parnell  Testimonial  Fund,  re- 
ported that  he  had  received  contributions  amount- 
ing to  $17,517.38,  which  he  had  remitted  to  Alfred 
Webb,  the  celebrated  Quaker  treasurer  of  the 
League  funds  in  Ireland.  Several  amendments 
were  made  to  the  constitution,  the  most  note- 
worthy being  section  7,  which  provided  that  "  an 
amount  not  to  exceed  $3,000  shall  be  annually 
appropriated  out  of  the  general  funds  of  the 
League,  to  indemnify  the  president  of  the  Na- 
tional League  for  his  time  and  services  in  the 
interest  of  the  cause."  Branches,  where  a  mu- 
nicipal council  exists,  were  instructed  to  remit  to 
the  national  treasurer  through  the  treasurer  of 
the  municipal  council ;  and  the  basis  of  represen- 
tation in  future  national  conventions  was  fixed  at 
one  delegate  for  every  fifty  members  in  good 
standing,  "  provided,  however,  that  in  country  dis- 
tricts, where  the  number  of  fifty  members  cannot 
easily  be  reached,  any  number  from  twenty-five 
to  fifty  shall  be  entided  to  one  delegate." 

Rev.  Dr.  George  C.  Betts,  editor  of  The  Church 
Militant,  and  rector  of  Grace  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church,  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  presented  the 
report  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions,  which 
was  unanimously  adopted.     He  said: 

"  I  do  not  intend  to  introduce  the  reading  of 


g76  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

the  resolutions  by  making  the  chairman's  usual 
speech,  further  than  to  say  that  in  the  delibera- 
tions of  the  committee  the  utmost  harmony  pre- 
vailed, and  that  the  judgment  which  is  here 
expressed  is  decidedly  the  judgment  of  the  whole. 
I  will  say  for  the  benefit  of  one  or  two  members 
of  the  committee  not  present  at  this  morning's 
session,  that  a  very  few  changes,  mainly  verbal, 
have  been  introduced  into  the  first  resolution 
upon  the  suggestion  of  our  delegates  from  Ire- 
land. Therefore,  if  the  language  which  they 
hear  now  is  unfamiliar  to  their  ears,  they  will 
know  it  has  not  been  placed  without  authority  in 
the  body  of  the  resolutions. 

"The  representatives  of  the  Irish  National 
League  of  America,  in  convention  assembled, 
affirming  the  principles  adopted  at  the  Philadel- 
phia Convention,  congratulate  the  people  of  Ire- 
land and  their  able  leader,  Charles  Stewart 
Parnell,  on  the  heroic  efforts  and  untiring  zeal 
which  have  so  signally  marked  the  history  of  the 
past  year,  abounding  in  evidences  of  gratifying 
progress  in  placing  the  people  of  Ireland  on  a 
higher  plane,  and  securing  for  them,  and  their 
natural  rights,  a  more  adequate  consideration 
from  the  intellio-ence  of  mankind. 

"We  renew  the  protest,  which  for  seven  centu- 
ries has  been  uttered  with  every  heart-throb  of 
our  race,  against  the  cruel  and  unjust  usurpation 
of  power  by  a  government  alien  to  our  people  in 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  677 

all  that  distinguishes  one  nationality  from  another, 
and  we  pledge  our  moral  and  material  support 
to  every  legitimate  means  for  re-establishing  the 
God-given  rights  of  the  people  of  Ireland  to  the 
possession  and  government  of  their  native  land. 

"To  this  end  we  are  firmly  purposed  to  direct 
all  our  efforts  to  the  creation  in  Ireland  of  a  com- 
plete national  life,  and  the  development  of  all  the 
diversified  industries  which  render  a  people  self- 
sustaining  and  prosperous,  not  merely  by  the 
reduction  of  rents,  nor  a  change  from  idle  proprie- 
tors to  working  proprietors,  but  also  by  the  revi- 
val of  Irish  manufactures  to  the  exclusion  of 
English  goods  and  the  promotion  of  an  economic 
and  civil  life  by  the  development  of  a  sincere, 
noble  and  effectual  cohesion  of  all  her  people  for 
the  common  welfare. 

"  Now,  therefore,  in  view  of  these  facts,  be  it 
''Resolved,  First,  That  the  Irish  National  League 
of  America  hereby  expresses  its  unqualified  ap- 
proval of  the  course  pursued  during  the  past 
year  by  Charles  Stewart  Parnell,  and  the  Irish 
Parliamentary  party  under  his  leadership,  and 
pledges  itself  to  support  them  by  every  moral 
and  material  aid  in  the  contest  which  they  are 
wapfine  aeainst  Landlordism  and  on  behalf  of  Irish 
national  independence,  and  to  this  end  we  com- 
mend the  Parliamentary  Fund,  recently  opened 
by  our  executive  for  such  purposes,  to  the  gener- 
osity which  characterizes  our  countrymen. 


g78  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

"Second,  That  we  congratulate  the  Irish  Na- 
tional League  of  America  on  its  success  in  stem- 
ming  the  tide  of  the  forced  emigration  of  the 
artificially  impoverished,  and  in  causing  the  United 
States  Government  to  compel  England  to  take 
back  those  whose  poverty  is  the  direct  result  of 
her  misorovernment. 

"Third,  That  we  record  with  satisfaction  that 
the  opposition  of  this  League  to  land-grabbing  in 
America  by  non-resident  aliens  has  been,  by  the 
efforts  of  our  Executive,  adopted  as  the  doctrine 
of  the  American  people  in  their  political  platforms, 
and  we  recommend  that  the  efforts  of  this  League 
to  end  this  evil  do  not  cease  until  a  complete 
remedy  be  enacted  in  the  laws  of  the  land. 

"Fourth,  That  we  congratulate  William  O'Brien, 
of  United  Ireland,  upon  the  victory  obtained  by 
him  in  his  struggle  against  immorality,  the  abomi- 
nations of  which  are  a  consistent  outcome  of 
English  misrule  In  Ireland,  and  we  commend  him 
for  tearing  the  mask  from  Castle  officialism  in 
bringing  its  hideous  practices  under  the  execra- 
tion of  mankind,  notwithstanding  governmt-ntal 
resistance. 

"  Fifth,  That  we  note  with  approval  the  revival 
of  the  study  of  the  Irish  language  as  one  of  the 
elements  in  the  general  progress  of  the  race,  and 
encouraore  the  efforts  of  those  eng-aeed  in  its 
cultivation. 

"Sixth,   That  we  indorse  and  encourage   the 


THE  GREAT  IRISH  STRUGGLE.  679 

work  of  the  promoters  of  Irish  colonization  In 
their  efficient  efforts  to  provide  homes  in  the 
United  States  for  Irish  immigrants,  who  would 
otherwise  be  compelled  to  toil  without  hope  of 
competence  in  the  larger  cities. 

"Seventh,  That  the  gratitude  of  the  Irish  race 
is  due  in  a  pardcular  manner  to  the  Executive  of 
the  League,  Alexander  Sullivan,  for  his  unselfish 
devotion  to  the  cause  of  Ireland,  and  that  in  his 
course  he  has  shown  consummate  skill  and  ex- 
alted patriodsm.  We  also  express  our  commen- 
dadon  of  the  conduct  in  office  of  Rev.  Charles 
O'Reilly,  D.  D.,  Treasurer;  Rev.  Thomas  J.  Con- 
aty,  Treasurer  of  the  Parnell  Fund,  and  the  other 
officers  of  the  oro^anization. 

"Eighth,  That  the  death  of  Rev.  Lawrence 
Walsh  gives  us  occasion  to  record  our  high  esteem 
for  his  marked  fidelity  during  the  years  of  his 
service  as  an  official  of  the  Land  League,  and 
causes  us  to  lament  in  him  the  loss  of  a  sterling 
patriot,  whose  voice  never  faltered  in  denouncing 
English  misrule,  and  whose  life  was  spent  in 
advocating  the  cause  of  Irish  nadonal  independ- 
ence." 

The  convendon,  at  the  instance  of  Alexander 
Sullivan,  decided  to  transmit  ;^i,ooo  to  William 
O'Brien,  M.  P.,  to  be  applied  on  the  legal  expenses 
incurred  by  that  gentleman,  the  motion  including 
the  words:  "It  is  fitdng  that  this  our  greedng 
to  our  brother  should  pass  through   the   clean 

40 


680  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

hands  of  our  reverend  treasurer,  Dr.  Charles 
O'Reilly,  to  the  equally  worthy  hands  of  the 
National  Treasurer  for  Ireland,  who  has  worshipped 
God  at  a  different  altar,  but  stands  by  his  side  for 
our  mother-land — the  intrepid  Quaker,  Alfred 
Wefeb." 

Despite  his  positive  refusal  to  accept  re-election, 
President  Sullivan  was  unanimously  chosen  his 
own  successor.  He,  however,  adhered  to  his 
decision,  although  Sexton  and  Redmond,  in 
speeches  of  great  earnestness,  besought  him,  in 
common  with  the  entire  body  of  delegates,  to 
remain  at  the  post  in  which  he  had  rendered  Ire- 
land such  inestimable  service.  Rev.  Dr.  O'Reilly 
also  declined  re-election  as  treasurer,  but  the  con- 
vention emphatically  refused  to  select  another 
man  for  the  position,  so  he  had,  perforce,  to 
remain  in  office.  The  national  officers  elected 
were:  President,  Patrick  Egan,  Omaha,  Nebraska. 
Vice-Presidents :  O'Neill  Ryan,  St.  Louis,  Mis- 
souri; Thomas  F.  Doherty,  Boston,  Massachu- 
setts; Maurice  F.  Wilhere,  Philadelphia,  Pennsyl- 
vania. Treasurer,  Rev.  Charles  O'Reilly,  D.  D., 
Detroit,  Michigan.  Secretary,  Roger  Walsh, 
Chicago,  Illinois.  The  various  States,  through 
their  delegates,  selected  the  following  members 
of  the  National  Executive  Committee:  P.  Devany, 
Fort  Smith,  Arkansas;  Judge  M.  Cooney,  San 
Francisco,  California;  Peter  W.  Wren,  Connect- 
icut; Col.   M.  Poland,  Denver,  Colorado;  E.  P. 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE  681 

Kane,  Wilmington,  Delaware;  John  F,  Armstrong, 
Augusta,  Georgia;  Daniel  Corkery,  Chicago,  Illi- 
nois; F.  M.  Ryan,  Indianapolis,  Indiana;  Hon.  M. 
V.  Gannon,  Davenport,  Iowa;  John  J.  Barrett, 
Louisville,  Kentucky;  Timothy  Maroney,  New 
Orleans,  Louisiana;  Patrick  Martin,  Baltimore, 
Maryland ;  William  J.  Dawson,  Michigan ; 
Thomas  J.  Fladey,  Boston,  Massachusetts;  J.  R. 
Corrigan,  Minneapolis,  Minnesota;  Dr.  Thomas 
O'Reilly,  St.  Louis,  Missouri;  John  Fitzgerald, 
Lincoln,  Nebraska;  Patrick  A.  Devine,  Manches- 
ter, New  Hampshire;  M.  B.  Holmes,  Jersey  City, 
New  Jersey;  Dr.  Joseph  F.  Fox,  Troy,  New  York; 
Hon.  J.  W.  Fitzgerald,  Cincinnati,  Ohio;  P.  H. 
Lynch,  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania;  Hugh  J.  Car- 
roll, Pawtucket.  Rhode  Island;  Hon.  F.  L. McHugh, 
Charleston,  South  Carolina;  R.  A.  Odium,  Mem- 
phis, Tennessee;  Dr.  J.  D.  Hanrahan,  Rutland, 
Vermont,  Richard  F.  Curran,  Richmond,  Virginia; 
Hon.  J.  G.  Donnelly,  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin; 
Thomas  H.  Walsh,  Washington,  District  of  Co- 
lumbia; William  O'Mulcahy,  Grafton,  Dakota; 
Jeremiah  Gallagher,  Quebec,  Canada. 

Before  it  adjourned,  the  convention,  at  the 
instance  of  Mr.  Peter  A.  Hogan,  of  Brookline, 
Massachusetts,  adopted  a  resolution  recording  its 
"deepest  regret  at  the  death  of  that  eloquent 
champion  of  every  oppressed  and  suffering  peo- 
ple, Wendell  Phillips,  whose  voice  was  ever 
raised  in  behalf  of  Ireland,  and  whose  whole  life 


582  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

was   one   unceasing   protest  against  tyranny  in 
every  land  and  every  form." 

On  the  day  following  the  adjournment  of 
the  convention  the  National  Committee  of  the 
League  met  in  Boston,  Mass.,  and  President  Egan 
appointed  as  the  Executive  Council  of  Seven : 
Hon.  M.  V.  Gannon,  of  Iowa;  Col.  Michael 
Boland,  of  Colorado;  Timothy  Maroney,  of  Lou- 
isiana; Thomas  J.  Flatley,  of  Massachusetts;  M 
B.  Holmes,  of  New  Jersey;  Hon.  J.  G.  Donnelly, 
of  Wisconsin ;  and  Hugh  J.  Carroll,  of  Rhode  Is- 
land, The  new  president,  Patrick  Egan,  handed 
in  the  following  letter,  bearing  date  August  15, 
1884: 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  National  Committee :  When 
accepting  the  position  of  president  of  the  Irish 
National  League  of  America,  I  was  not  aware  of 
the  amendment  to  the  constitution  passed  in  the 
earlier  part  of  the  day,  to  the  effect  that  *an 
amount  not  exceeding  ^3,000  shall  be  annually 
appropriated  out  of  the  general  funds  of  the 
League  to  indemnify  the  president  of  the  National 
League  for  his  time  and  services  in  the  interests 
of  the  cause.' 

"  I  desire  now  to  say  that  in  the  future  as  in  the 
past,  my  services  shall  be  given  to  the  cause  of 
Ireland  gratuitously,  and  that  on  no  condition  will 
I  accept  any  indemnity  or  remuneration  from  the 
League." 

The  committee  were    determined   to    pay  the 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE  ggS 

salary  ultimately,  but  President  Egan  was  deter- 
mined in  his  refusal  to  accept  no  remuneration 
and  returned  into  the  treasury  t\yo  checks  for 
^3,000  each ;  one  for  the  annual  appropriation  to 
August,  1885,  and  one  to  August,  1886. 

On  the  eveninof  after  the  convention  there  was 
an  immense  demonstration  in  the  Institute  Build- 
ing, Boston,  Mass.,  at  which  some  of  the  news- 
paper writers  asserted  there  were  20,000  persons 
present.  Addresses  were  made  by  Governor  Rob- 
inson, of  Massachusetts,  Mayor  Martin,  of  Boston. 
Gen.  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  of  Boston,  Hons. 
Thomas  Sexton,  M.  P.,  and  William  Redmond,  M. 
P.,  of  Ireland,  Mrs.  D.  T.  S.  Parnell,  Alexander 
Sullivan,  of  Illinois,  and  United  States  Senator 
Jones,  of  Florida. 

The  English  press,  both  Liberal  and  Conserva- 
tive, had  leading  editorials  on  the  convention,  in 
which  they  directed  the  attention  of  the  British 
statesmen,  then  in  power,  to  the  strength  of  the 
movement  in  America.  The  S^a7zdar£/ s2Lid,a.mong 
other  thinsfs :  "  Englishmen  cannot  afford  to  be 
indifferent  to  the  proceedings  of  the  National 
League  Convention  just  concluded  at  Boston 
and  it  is  an  ominous  sign  that  Davitt's  name 
was  greeted  with  applause.  Ireland  would  long 
since  have  been  quiet  were  it  not  for  the  spasmodic 
pulsations  of  this  character  in  the  United  States 
and  the  sinews  of  war  which  the  •  vast  Celtic 
crowds  there  are  able  to  furnish." 


684  GLADSTONE— PARNELL 

DARK  DAYS  AGAIN  DAWN  FOR  THE  LEAGUE. 

On  September  i,  1884,  President  Egan  and  the 
other  national  officers  issued  an  address  to  the 
officers  and  members  of  the  League  notifying 
them  of  the  removal  of  the  executive  offices  of  the 
Leaofue  to  Lincoln,  Nebraska,  statino-  that  the 
treasurer's  office  would  still  remain  at  Detroit, 
Michigan,  and  for  the  purpose  of  inspiring  a  love 
of  Irish  nationality  and  a  more  accurate  knowledge 
of  Irish  history  In  the  hearts  and  minds  of  the 
rising  generation  of  the  Irish-American  race, 
advising  the  use  of  musical  and  literary  exercises 
at  all  branch  meetings,  and  the  appointment  of  a 
special  committee  on  Irish  music  and  literature 
for  every  branch  In  this  country.  It  said :  "  There 
should  also  be  a  committee  on  Parliamentary  Fund 
appointed  In  everybranch.  Where  there  are  sev- 
eral branches  in  a  town  or  city,  a  joint  committee 
should  be  selected  ;  and  where  there  Is  a  munici- 
pal council,  that  body  should  organize  and  go  to 
work  immediately.  A  general  Parliamentary 
elecdon  is  now  possible  at  any  time  and  may 
reasonably  be  said  to  be  among  the  certainties  of 
the  ensuing  ten  months.  We  received  the  bril- 
liant representatives  of  the  Parliamentary  Party, 
Messrs.  Sexton  and  Redmond,  with  cheers. 
Shall  not  these  cheers  be  followed  by  deeds  ? 
After  telling  them  and  their  colleagues  to  go  on 
and  be  assured  of  our  support,  shall  we  give  that 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE,  685 

support  promptly  and  generously  ?  We  rely  upon 
your  patriotism  for  the  responses  to  these  ques- 
tions." 

As  the  wise  minds  that  heretofore  directed  the 
affairs  of  the  League  dreaded  the  introduction  of 
American  politics  into  the  discussions  of  the 
branches,  under  the  well-founded  apprehension 
that  It  would  be  the  cause  of  dissension  amongfst 
the  members,  and  as  about  this  time  the  American 
people  were  beginning  to  feel  the  first  throes  of 
political  excitement  over  the  approaching  Presi- 
dential campaign,  Mr.  Egan  felt  the  necessity  of 
adding  to  the  address  a  few  words  of  monition. 

"  In  the  local  branches,"  said  he,  "  as  in  the  Na- 
tional Convention  of  the  League,  we  drop  our 
character  as  members  of  American  political 
parties  when  we  cross  the  threshold  of  the 
League  hall.  During  the  coming  political  can- 
vass, let  no  excitement  or  difference  of  opinion 
concerning  political  affairs  either  decrease  our 
enthusiasm  or  influence  our  actions  in  the 
League.  Happily  we  have  lived  to  behold  our 
people  at  home  able  to  bury  creed  and  provincial 
distinctions.  Let  us  show  that  we  are  able  to 
bury  political  distinctions  in  our  League  work, 
and  to  tolerate  the  widest  differences  of  opinion 
in  American  politics  among  our  members." 

It  will  be  seen  later  on  that  his  words  of  warn- 
ing were  really  necessary,  and  if  his  sagacious 
exhortations  failed  of  their  intended  effect,  the 
fault,  certainly,  did  not  lie  at  his  door. 


636  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

For  some  time  subsequently  the  contributions 
to  the  Irish  Parliamentary  Fund  languished.  An 
urgent  appeal  came  over  the  waste  of  waters  from 
Charles  Stewart  Parnell  for  "  renewed  exertion  in 
support  of  the  Parliamentary  Fund."  As  a  spur 
to  the  people  it  was  thought  advisable  to  have  a 
delegation  of  the  most  eloquent  of  the  Irish  mem- 
bers brought  to  the  United  States  to  deliver  ad- 
dresses on  the  situation.  Mr.  Parnell  was  ad- 
dressed on  the  subject,  and  in  reply  came  the 
following  letter,  giving  the  hopes  and  plans  of 
the  great  Irish  leader : 

"  Offices  of  the  Irish  National  League,  39 
Upper  Sackville  Street.  Dublin,  Jamiary  27, 
1885. 

"  Patrick  Egan,  Esq.,  President  Irish  National 
League  of  America: 

"  My  dear  Mr.  Egan  :  Mr.  Parnell  desires  me 
to  write  to  you  and  place  before  you  the  difficulty 
he  has  in  acting  upon  your  suggestion  to  send 
over  two  members  of  the  party  during  the  Spring. 
He  had  been  in  hopes  that  two  members  of  the 
party  might  be  able  to  undertake  the  journey; 
but  the  immense  labor  that  will  be  thrown  upon 
our  small  number  in  the  forthcoming  session  of 
Patliament  in  fighting-  the  Redistribution  of  Seats 
Bill  and  the  Renewed  Crimes  Act  will  render  the 
absence  of  even  one  man  of  our  party  a  serious 
loss.     If  we  can  show  sufficient  strength  in  the 


THE   GREAT   IRISH  STRUGGLE.  687 

House  during  the  approaching  session,  we  will  be 
able  to  amend  the  Redistribution  of  Seats  Bill  in 
such  a  manner  that  it  will  enable  us  to  take  pos- 
session of  eighty-five  seats  in  the  new  Parliament, 
while,  at  the  same  time,  upon  the  energy  and 
power  we  display  in  discussing  the  bill  will 
depend  the  fate  of  the  Crimes  Act,  which  the 
o^overnment  intends  to  renew. 

"  Under  these  circumstances  Mr.  Parnell  desires 
me  to  say  that  you  and  our  friends  in  America 
will  have  to  leave  us  our  full  Parliamentary 
strength  during  our  approaching  session,  and  you 
may  rely  fully  upon  his  desire  and  that  of  the  party 
to  send  you  a  delegation  as  soon  as  at  all  possible. 

"  Our  organization  is  making  splendid  progress 
and  doing  great  work.  To  the  activity  which  our 
Irish  branches  displayed  in  working  up  the  regis- 
tration of  voters  during  the  past  two  years  we  owe 
the  fact  that  Ireland  is  to  receive  the  benefit  of 
the  extended  franchise,  for  we  showed  that  with 
energy  and  perseverance  we  could  secure  under 
the  Innited  franchise  nearly  every  seat  which  the 
new  franchise  brings  within  our  easy  grasp.  A 
very  large  propoition  of  our  funds  was  expended 
on  thib  part  of  the  struggle,  and  even  yet  our 
expenses  in  attending  Boundary  Commissions 
and  preparing  schemes  and  evidence  for  them 
are  very  large.  If,  however,  we  had  not  to  sus- 
tain a  large  number  of  evicted  tenants  who  have 
come  to  us  as  a  legacy  from  the  Land  League,  our 


688  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

organization  at  home  would  be  able  to  meet  Its 
own  working  expenses.  But  this  Evicted  Ten- 
ants' Fund  is  a  first  charge  upon  us  and  forms 
the  largest  part  of  our  expenditure.  We  have 
received  from  our  Irish  branches  during  the  year 
£6,ooOy  while  we  have  had  to  vote  over  £j\6oo  in 
erants  to  these  evicted  tenants. 

"  I  have  seen  a  statement  in  some  of  the  Ameri- 
can papers,  attributed  to  Mr.  Parnell,  that  no  funds 
were  needed  in  Ireland  until  the  general  election. 
He  tells  me  he  never  made  such  a  statement.  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  with  a  view  to  preparing  for  the 
general  election  that  we  mainly  want  funds.  We 
shall  have  to  put  forward  about  ninety  candidates 
at  the  eeneral  election  in  Ireland,  and  we  must 
have  local  machinery  prepared  to  work  every  one 
of  these  elections,  as  all  the  constituencies  will  be 
split  up  into  single-member  constituencies,  and 
every  man  will  have  to  fight  his  own  corner  with 
the  local  aid  he  may  receive. 

"  Mr.  Parnell  has  directed  me  to  request  that 
any  Parliamentary  fund  at  present  in  hand  might 
be  forwarded,  as  a  large  proportion  of  the  present 
expenditure  of  the  National  League  falls  within 
the  line  of  a  Parliamentary  Fund ;  such  as  the 
preparation  of  bills  for  the  Parliament,  the  rent 
and  expenses  of  Parliamentary  office,  and  the  ex- 
penses of  members  delegated  to  attend  meetings, 
as  well  as  tlie  preparation  of  pamphlets  on  the 
Crimes  Act,  and  the  supplying  of  other  such  in- 
formation to  Parliament. 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE  ggg 

"To  remove  these  off  our  limited  resources 
would  leave  us  free  to  devote  a  larger  propor- 
tion of  our  funds  to  organization.  Under  all 
these  circumstances  Mr,  Parnell  urgently  requests 
that  you  will  point  out  to  our  friends  In  America 
the  necessity  for  renewed  exertion  in  support  of 
the  Parliamentary  Fund.     Yours  sincerely, 

"  T.  Harrington,  Honorary  Secretary." 

President  Egan  circulated  that  letter  in  every 
branch  in  the  Union,  and  as  a  result,  was  able 
within  almost  six  weeks  afterwards  to  forward, 
through  the  hands  of  the  Reverend  Treasurer 
O'Reilly,  the  sum  of  ^2,000.  On  March  23, 
1885,  the  Hon.  T,  Harrington  wrote,  acknowl- 
edging its  receipt.  "  Coming  at  a  time,"  he 
said,  "  when  it  will  be  the  duty  both  of  the  Par- 
liamentary Party  and  of  the  Irish  National  League 
to  engage  in  perhaps  the  most  extensive  work 
undertaken  by  any  organization  in  Ireland  for  a 
long  time  past,  this  generous  subscription  will  be 
to  us  not  only  a  means  of  strengthening  our  hands 
in  the  struggle  in  which  we  are  about  to  engage  in 
connection  with  reijistration  and  oreneral  election, 
but  will  also  be  an  encouragement  to  the  many 
members  of  our  organization  working  in  their 
own  local  centres  to  redouble  their  efforts  and 
prove  themselves  worthy  of  the  generous  con- 
fidence reposed  in  them  by  our  friends  abroad, 

"A  large  proportion  of  the  funds  contributed  to 


690  GLADSTONE— PARNELL 

the  National  League  organization  was  devoted, 
during  the  past  two  years,  to  strengthening  the 
position  of  our  party  at  the  Registration  Courts ; 
and  it  is  to  the  judicious  use  of  those  funds  for 
this  practical  purpose,  we,  in  a   large    measure, 
owe  the  extended  franchise,  of  which  we  are  now 
to  reap  the  benefit.     By  putting  forth  the  whole 
strength  of  our  organization  at  the  approaching 
registration  of  voters,  we  shall  be  able  to  make 
the  position  of  the   National  Party  supreme   in 
three  out  of  the  four  Provinces  of  Ireland,  and 
shall  not  leave  in  the  hands  of  our  opponents  one 
single   constituency  in    those    Provinces,   except, 
of  course,  the    University    of    Dublin,    which    is 
beyond    our   control.     But   it    is   in    the    fourth 
Province,  namely,  Ulster,  that  the  struggle  of  the 
general  election  will  chiefly  lie.     Our  power,  even 
if  disputed  in  the  other  Provinces,  cannot  be  injured  ; 
but  in  the  Province  of  Ulster  the  struggle  between 
the  National  Party  and  the  West  British  is  sure 
to  brinor  forth  the  full  strength  of  the  different 
parties  in  this  country.     Of  several  of  the  seats 
created  in  Ulster  by  the  new  bill  we  are  perfectly 
sure,  and  the  result  o(  the  general  election,  if 
proper  advantages  be  taken  at  the  Registration 
Courts  of  the  extended  franchise,  will  show  that 
in  Ulster  the  National  Party  possesses  the  majority 
of  seats. 

"  In  all,  then,  we  hope  to  have  represendng  Ire- 
land in  the  next  Parliament  at  least  eighty-five 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  ggi 

followers  of  Mr.  Parnell ;  while  we  do  not  intend 
to  leave  the  Tories  or  Whigs  undisputed  posses- 
sion even  of  the  remainder,  but  to  contest  almost 
every  seat  closely  with  them. 

"  I  am  very  glad  to  be  able  to  assure  you — and 
I  have  no  doubt  the  intelligence  will  be  gratifying 
to  our  friends  abroad — that  the  national  spirit 
was  never  stronger  or  more  hopeful  in  Ireland 
than  it  is  at  the  present  time,  and  that  our  people 
have,  tc  a  very  great  extent,  learned  to  rely  upon 
themselves,  and  are  contributing,  even  notwith- 
standing the  great  depression  in  agricultural 
prices,  very  generously  towards  the  support  of 
the  National  League  organization  here." 

Shortly  after  receiving  that  communication,  and 
whilst  he  was  still  coneratulatino-  himself  on  "the 
good  work  well  begun,"  President  Egan  was  sud- 
denly confronted  with  a  new  difficulty,  which  re- 
quired all  his  tact,  prudence  and  decision  of  char- 
acter to  overcome.  The  political  campaign  had 
waxed  hot,  and  some  of  the  leaders  of  the  Irish 
race,  notably  Alexander  Sullivan  and  Col.  Michael 
Boland,  arrayed  themselves  on  the  side  of  "James 
G.  Blaine  and  Protection  for  American  Industries." 
They  delivered  political  addresses  in  every  section 
of  the  country,  preferring  to  speak  before  Irish 
Democratic  audiences  rather  than  Republicans. 
Thousands  of  Irish  voters  almost  everywhere 
followed  their  lead  into  the  Republican  camp  and 
cast  their  ballots  for  the  "  Plumed  Knight,"  who 


692  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Still,  I  firmly  believe,  remains  their  idol,  chiefly,  how- 
ever, through  the  oratorical  reasonings  of  Messrs. 
Sullivan  and  Boland.  The  action  of  these  gen- 
tlemen created  a  vast  amount  of  dissatisfaction, 
especially  among  that  class  of  Democratic  citizens 
who  "vote  the  straight  ticket  all  the  time."  There 
are  very  many  thousands  of  Irishmen,  who,  mind- 
ful of  the  Know-Nothing  excitement,  could  not  be 
induced  by  any  arguments  to  desert  the  Demo- 
cratic party.  They  have,  too,  a  multitude  of  other 
reasons,  which  to  them  are  all-sufficient,  why  they 
should  not  "  turn  their  coats  "  and  cast  their  lot 
with  the  Republican  party.  Many  of  them  viewed 
with  some  distrust,  and  became  exceedingly  wrathy 
over  the  defection  of  Mr.  Sullivan.  They  could 
not  and  would  not  believe  that  Mr.  Blaine  would 
inaugurate  such  an  active  foreign  policy  as  Mr. 
Sullivan  asserted  his  honest  conviction  would  fol- 
low his  election  to  the  Presidency  of  the  United 
States.  Even  if  they  did  believe  that  such  would 
have  been  the  result,  I  am  positive  that  it  would 
not  have  changed  their  "  political  complexion." 

As  the  campaign  progressed  the  dissension 
which  President  Egan  feared  at  the  outset  of  his 
administration  made  its  appearance  in  nearly 
nine-tenths  of  the  branches  of  the  League.  In 
some  branches  there  was  always  found  some  man 
or  men  who  were  angry  and  dissatisfied.  This 
anofer  and  dissatisfaction  increased  to  such  a 
degree  that  in  some  places  men  were  found  who 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  593 

impugned  Mr.  Sullivan's  motives  in  such  a  mean 
way  as  to  cast  a  doubt  on  his  honor.  With  him, 
they  included  the  entire  national  officers  of  the 
organization,  and  charges  of  "treachery  "  and  "  sell- 
ing out  the  organization  "  were  freely  made  and 
bandied  about  at  political  and  other  meetings 
and  elsewhere.  The  attendance  at  the  meetino-s 
of  the  branches  and  municipal  councils  fell  off 
at  an  alarming  rate.  Roger  Walsh,  the  Secre- 
tary, aided  Mr.  Egan  in  his  work,  night  and  day, 
of  attempting  to  counteract  the  effects  of  the 
sinister  influences  that  were  threatening  the  very 
life  of  the  National  League  in  America.  Circu- 
lars and  addresses,  full  of  burning  and  patriotic 
words,  and  bristling  with  appeals  for  all  to  stand 
by  the  old  land  in  her  fight  for  freedom,  were 
sent  out  broadcast  to  the  presidents,  secretaries 
and  delegates  of  every  branch  in  the  United 
States.  Every  proper  and  legitimate  attempt 
that  the  mind  of  man  could  devise  was  made,  to 
stem  the  torrent  of  discord  that  was  sweeping 
everything  irresistibly  before  it,  and  to  restore 
the  harmony  and  unity  so  essential  in  a  great 
movement  of  this  kind.  At  last  President  Egan 
after  mature  thought  decided  to  place  the  exact 
facts  of  the  situation  squarely  before  the  whole 
country  and  thus  appeal  to  the  sense  of  justice 
and  fair  play  attributes — in  which  his  countrymen 
stand  pre-eminent.  A  fair  opportunity  of  doing 
so  presented  itself  when  he  received  the  following 


694  GLADSTONE— PA  RNELL. 

letter  from  one  of  the  most  honored  members  of 
the  organization,  Dr.  J.  D.  Hanrahan,  State 
Delegate  of  the  Irish  National  League  of 
Vermont: 

"Rutland,  Vt„  May  4,  1885. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  Havincr  received  several  com- 
munications  both  from  yourself  and  Mr.  Walsh  1 
thought  it  was  but  right  that  you  should  receive 
some  kind  of  an  answer. 

"When  I  first  made  an  effort  to  organize  a 
branch  of  the  League  here,  I  was  met  with  the 
assertion  that  the  officers  had  sold  out  to  the 
Rupublican  party.  I  have  not  been  able  to 
remove  that  impression  yet,  and  at  present  I  have 
litde  hope  of  being  able  to  do  so. 

"  However,  I  can  assure  you  that  my  heart  and 
soul  are  in  the  cause,  and  whatever  personally 
I  can  do  shall  be  done,  and  I  yet  hope  by  making 
a  supreme  effort  that  I  may  be  able  to  make 
some  kind  of  a  showing  previous  to  your 
National  Convention.     I  am  very  truly,  etc., 

"J.  D.  Hanrahan." 

As  soon  as  he  had  read  the  foregoing  com- 
munication President  Egan  sat  down  and  penned 
the  following  response: 

"  Executive  Office  of  Irish  National  League 
OF  America,  Lincoln,  Neb.,  May  9,  1S85. 

"  My  Dear  Dr.  Hanrahan  :  Your  esteemed 
letter  of  the  4th  inst.  has  reached  me  and  I  have 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  695 

to  thank  you  not  only  for  your  promise  to  forward 
the  League  movement  in  your  State,  but  also  for 
the  manly  candor  with  which  you  inform  me  of 
the  slanders  that  are  in  circulation  reorardinof  the 
officers  of  the  League.  The  fact  that  such  a 
charge  as  that  of  having  *  sold  out '  to  the  Repub- 
lican party — or  any  other  party — being  made 
against  the  respected  Treasurer  of  the  League, 
the  Reverend  Dr.  O'Reilly,  of  Detroit,  against 
my  predecessor,  Mr.  Alexander  Sullivan,  and,  I 
may  add,  against  myself,  is  proof  of  the  utter 
unscrupulousness  of  a  certain  set  of  political 
bummers,  and  of  the  lamentable  ignorance  and 
prejudice  of  a  certain  other  class  of  our  country- 
men who  believe  them — if  indeed  any  there  be 
who  do  believe  them. 

"  The  Reverend  Dr.  O'Reilly  and  Mr.  Alexander 
Sullivan  need  no  words  of  mine  in  their  defence. 
Their  antecedents,  their  pure  and  devoted  patri- 
otism, their  utter  unselfishness  of  character — so 
different  from  that  of  the  creatures  who  attempt 
to  malign  them — are  so  well  known  throuorhout 
the  length  and  breadth  of  this  land,  that  no  man 
of  ordinary  intelligence,  no  Irishman  worthy  of 
the  name,  could  be  got  to  give  ear  to  their 
slanderers. 

"For  myself,  I  took  no  part  in  the  Presidential 
campaign  beyond  casting  my  individual  vote.  I 
did  write  a  letter,  replying  to  attacks  directed 
against  me  by  the  Democratic  organ  of  this  city, 

41 


g9o  GLADSTONE— PARNELL, 

attacks,  too,  which  were  entirely  unwarranted,  in- 
asmuch as  I  had  up  to  the  time  of  their  appear- 
ance made  no  pubHc  announcement  of  my  poHti- 
cal  views  whatsoever.  This  letter  I  submitted, 
before  sending  it  to  the  press,  to  one  of  the  most 
prominent  Democrats  in  this  State,  and  he  con- 
sidered that  the  circumstances  justified  its  publi- 
cation. In  the  letter  I  stated  in  correction 
of  the  published  misrepresentations,  the  reasons 
why  I,  as  an  individual,  preferred  Mr  Blaine  to 
Mr.  Cleveland,  but  I  also  stated  distinctly  my  posi- 
tion in  the  following  unmistakable  words  :  'When, 
however,  at  Boston,  I  accepted  the  Presidency  of 
the  Irish  National  League,  I  considered  that  what- 
ever my  private  opinions  might  be,  I  was  thence 
precluded  from  taking  any  active  part  In  American 
politics.  Accordingly  I  have  abstained  from  tak- 
ing any  part,  nor  shall  I  take  any  so  long  as  I 
hold  the  office.     This  is  my  position.' 

"That  position  I  stricdy  adhered  to  throughout 
the  entire  campaign.  I  never  by  word  or  writing 
attempted  to  influence  a  single  vote,  but  on  the 
contrary,  when  again  and  again  I  was  asked  for 
my  advice,  I  invariably,  declined  to  give  it. 

"The  fact,  however,  that  I,  an  Irishman,  dared 
to  have  an  opinion  of  my  own,  and  that  that 
opinion  was  not  the  regulation  pattern,  dictated 
by  certain  conventional  party  bosses,  was  suffi- 
cient to  bring  down  upon  me  the  venomous  ma- 
lignity of  a  class  of  Irish-American  politicians  and 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  (J97 

of  certain  prints  that  call  themselves  Irish-Amer- 
ican, solely  that  they  may  trade  in  Irish  votes. 
But  for  that  spirit  of  resistance  to  tyranny  and 
dictation  which  is  ingrained  in  my  very  nature  I 
would  not  to-day  be  an  exile  from  home  and 
friends.  Without  egotism,  I  think  I  may  say  that 
I  have  made  sacrifices  and  incurred  risks  in  my 
opposition  to  English  tyranny  and  dictation  in 
Ireland  that  few  persons  have  faced — sacrifices  and 
risks  that  those  who  go  around  slandering  the 
workers  for  Ireland  are  by  nature  incapable  of  un- 
derstanding— and  whateverpart  I  may  take  in  pub- 
lic affairs  on  this  side  I  shall, I  trust,  always  be  found 
an  uncompromising  enemy  of  tyranny  and  dicta- 
tion from  whatever  quarter  they  may  be  attempted. 
"For  men  who  honestly  differ  from  me  on  ques- 
tions of  politics,  whether  Irish  or  American,  men 
like  my  friends  Mr.  John  Boyle  O'Reilly,  Hon,  P. 
A.  Collins,  Hon.  M.  A.  Foran,  Hon.  M.  V.  Gan- 
non, my  townsman,  Mr.  John  Fitzgerald,  your 
good  self  and  many  others  I  could  name,  I  trust  I 
shall  always  entertain  the  most  profound  respect ; 
but  for  those  who  would  by  their  unscrupulous 
intolerance  dragr  the  cause  of  Ireland  in  the  mire 
and  deliberately  belie  and  defame  the  good  name 
of  their  countrymen  when  they  venture  to  exer- 
cise, honestly  and  independently,  their  legitimate 
rights  as  citizens  of  this  free  country,  I  have 
no  other  sentiment  than  that  of  contempt  and 
loathing.     I  remain,  my  dear  Dr.  Hanrahan, 

"Yours,  faithfully,     Patrick  Egan." 


g98  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

This  declaration  of  his  position,  and  of  that  of 
his  colleagues,  did  more  than  anything  else  at  that 
time  to  enable  President  E^jan  to  brino  back  to 
their  allegiance  many  of  the  Leaguers  and  rebuild 
the  organization.  When  the  rehabilitated  League 
had  begun  to  do  its  work,  fresh  appeals  were 
issued  urging,  above  all,  the  presidents  of  branches 
and  the  state  delegates  to  push  forward  the 
movement  with  redoubled  energy.  The  tide 
turned,  but  it  took  a  long  time  before  it  resumed 
its  wonted  channels  and  before  the  National 
League  in  America  could  fill  up  the  fearful  gaps 
that  had  been  made  in  its  old-time  crowded  ranks. 

On  June  19,  1885,  President  Egan  issued  an 
appeal  for  the  Parliamentary  Fund,  from  Lincoln, 
Nebraska,  marked  "  urgent ;  "  it  was  addressed  to 
the  presidents  of  the  branches.  In  it  he  said  :  "  In 
view  of  the  momentous  events  of  the  past  few  days 
we  deem  it  a  duty  to  address  you  for  the  purpose 
of  pointing  out  the  urgency  that  exists  for  at 
once  calling  your  branch  together  and  taking 
steps  to  push  the  collections  for  the  Parliamentary 
Fund.  Mr.  Parnell,  with  his  band  of  thirty-nine 
followers  (and  not  even  all  these  reliable)  has  suc- 
ceeded in  defeating  and  driving  from  power  the 
strongest  government  that  ever  ruled  in  England, 
banishing  from  Ireland  in  disgrace  Earl  Spencer 
and  his  brutal  and  loathsome  minions,  and  caus- 
ing such  an  awakening  in  public  opinion  at  home 
and  abroad  on  the  subject  of  English  misrule  in 


THE  GREAT  IRISH  STRUGGLE.  699 

Ireland,  that  the  attainment  of  self-o:overnment  is 
now  brought  almost  within  our  grasp. 

"The  new  ministry  in  England,  representing  a 
minority  in  the  House  of  Commons,  can  only 
govern  on  sufferance  during  the  balance  of  the, 
session,  and  a  general  election  in  September  oi' 
October  is  now  assured. 

"With  a  moderate  amount  of  the  'sinews  of 
war'  at  his  command,  Mr.  Parnell  can  secure  at 
the  general  election  the  return  of  eighty  reliable 
followers,  and  with  that  number  and  the  balance 
of  power  in  the  hands  of  an  honest  Irish  National 
party,  the  next  two  or  three  years  will,  we  believe, 
bring  forth  results  which  few  of  us  hoped  to  see 
accomplished  in  our  time. 

"We  are  at  present  in  communication  with  Mr. 
Parnell  on  the  subject  of  fixing  a  time  for  our  an- 
nual convention,  and  hope  to  be  able  to  lay  his 
views  before  you  at  an  early  date.  Meantime,  we 
urgently  appeal  to  you  to  do  all  that  lies  in  your 
power  to  push  on  the  organization,  and  particu- 
larly to  aid  in  raising  for  the  Parliamentary  Fund 
such  a  sum  as  will  enable  Mr.  Parnell  to  take 
advantage  of  the  all-important  opportunity  now 
so  near  at  hand." 

Prompt  and  substantial  responses  from  all 
quarters,  some  of  them,  indeed,  from  unexpected 
sources,  reassured  Mr.  Egan  that  all  differences 
of  opinion,  political  and  otherwise,  had  been 
thrown  to  the  winds,  that  the  members    of   the 


700  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

National  Leasfue  had  a^ain  buckled  to  their  work 
with  an  earnestness  of  purpose  that  showed 
their  hearts  were  in  it,  and  that  until  the  end 
of  his  administration  he  would  have  plain  sailing 
and  no  rou^h  waters  to  encounter. 

Numerous  inquiries  from  all  sides  as  to  the 
date  of  the  next  national  convention,  and  an  im- 
pending crisis  in  Irish  affairs  in  the  British  Parlia- 
ment, impelled  the  national  officers  to  issue  a  call 
for  a  meetine  in  Chicao^o  of  the  national  execu- 
tive  committee,  to  be  held  on  August  15,  1885. 
The  session  was  a  long  one,  and  the  reasons  given 
for  the  holding  of  the  convention  at  an  early  date 
and  of  postponing  it,  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Parnell, 
were  dispassionately  considered.  It  was  finally 
decided  to  issue  an  address  to  the  officers  and 
members  of  the  League,  as  well  as  to  all  who 
were  interested  in  the  welfare  of  Ireland. 

At  this  session  of  the  National  Executive 
Committee,  Roger  Walsh  presented  his  resigna- 
tion as  National  Secretary.  His  resignation  was 
accepted  with  sincere  regret,  and  John  P.  Sutton, 
of  Quebec,  Canada,  was  selected  for  the  vacancy. 
Mr.  Walsh,  however,  continued  to  act  as  secretary 
for  several  months.  His  successor,  Mr.  Sutton, 
has  proved  himself  a  most  capable  and  energetic 
officer,  and  the  golden  opinions  which  he  gained 
among  the  patriotic  Irishmen  of  Canada  as  an 
oro-anizer  have  been  considerably  enhanced  by 
the  unstinted  praise  which  he  has  received  from 


THE   GREAT   IRIStr   STRUGGLE.  701 

all   with  whom   his   official    duties   bringr  him   In 
contact. 

On  October  24,  1885,  President  Egan  issued  a 
call  for  the  Third  Annual  Convention  of  the  Irish 
National  League  of  America,  to  be  held  in 
Central  Music  Hall,  Chicago,  Illinois,  on  Wednes- 
day and  Thursday,  20th  and  21st  January  1886. 
This  convention,  he  said,  would  be  attended  by 
Mr.  Parnell  and  a  strong  delegation  of  his  col- 
leagues. About  six  weeks  afterwards  he  learned 
that  Mr.  Parnell  could  not  possibly  attend  the 
convention,  and  in  December,  1885,  he,  in  con- 
junction with  the  other  national  officers,  addressed 
a  circular  note  to  the  members  of  branches,  in 
which  he  said :  "  In  compliance  with  the  instruc- 
tions of  the  National  Committee  of  the  League, 
held  in  Chicago,  in  August  last,  the  Executive, 
after  full  consultation  with  Mr.  Parnell,  fixed  the 
20th  January,  1886,  for  the  holding  of  the 
National  Convention  of  the  League,  as  the  time 
most  suitable  to  the  convenience  of  Mr.  Parnell 
and  his  colleagues.  It  is  now  ascertained  that, 
owinof  to  the  momentous  result  of  the  oreneral 
election  just  completed,  which  places  the  balance 
of  power  between  the  two  English  parties  in  the 
hands  of  the  national  representatives  of  Ireland, 
and  which  has  brought,  at  one  bound,  the  ques- 
tion of  the  restoration  of  our  native  Parliament 
directly  'within  the  range  of  practical  politics,'  it 
will  not  be  possible  for  Mr.  Parnell  to  absent  him- 


702  CLADS'lONE— PARNELL. 

self  from  the  post  of  duty  at  home  for  a  suffi- 
ciently long  time  to  enable  him  to  attend  the  con- 
vention. Mr.  Harrington,  M.  P.,  Secretary  of  the 
National  League  in  Ireland,  cabling  on  this 
subject,  on  behalf  of  Mr.  Parnell,  says,  '  I  am 
inclined  to  think  it  best  to  postpone  the  conven- 
tion until  after  the  meeting  of  Parliament  in  Feb- 
ruary.' Taking  into  consideration  this  suggestion, 
the  unfavorable  time  of  the  year  for  persons 
obliged  to  travel  long  distances,  and  the  disap- 
pointment that  would  be  occasioned  to  delegates 
by  the  absence  from  the  convention  of  the  man 
whom  we  are  all  so  anxious  to  greet — the  great 
and  eifted  leader  of  our  race — we  deem  it  our 
duty  to  postpone  the  convention  to  a  time  to  be 
hereafter  determined  upon  between  the  Executive 
and  Mr.  Parnell. 

"The  Executive  will  call  a  meeting  of  the 
National  Committee  of  the  League  (consisting  of 
one  delegate  from  each  State  and  Territory  and 
from  Canada),  to  assemble  in  Chicago  on  20th 
January  next,  and  by  that  time  we  hope  to  have 
information  from  Ireland  that  will  enable  the 
committee  to  fix  a  time  for  the  convention. 

At  that  time  the  Executive  Committee  found, 
after  mature  deliberation,  that,  owing  to  the  con- 
dition of  affairs  in  Ireland,  it  would  be  impossible 
to  fix  a  suitable  date  for  the  meeting  of  the  con- 
vention,  and  it  was  unanimously  decided  to  leave 
the  entire  matter  in  the  hands  of  the  national  offi- 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  703 

cers — President  Egan,  Secretary  Sutton,  and  the 
treasurer,  Rev.  Dr.  O'Reilly — and  to  clothe  them 
formally  with  full  power. 

In  some  public  prints,  in  England,  Scotland,  and 
America,  it  was  hinted  that  "  Mr.  Parnell  had  very 
good  reasons  for  staying  away  from  an  American 
convention."  These  reasons,  according  to  the 
writers,  were  in  effect  that  he  was  afraid,  if  he 
came  to  this  country,  that  some  of  his  speeches 
and  public  addresses  might  imperil  his  safety 
when  he  should  return  home.  Insinuations  of  this 
kind,  while  they  did  not  hurt  the  great  Irish 
leader,  sorely  wounded  the  pride  of  his  country- 
men, both  at  home  and  abroad,  and  they  were 
repelled  with  honest  indignation.  His  courage 
had  already  stood  severe. tests,  and  they  were  not 
at  all  apprehensive  of  a  want  of  prudence  in  his 
speech  or  deportment. 

When  these  slanders  had  been  silenced,  other 
ones  took  their  place  and  occupied  men's  minds 
for  some  time  before  it  was  thought  necessary  to 
show  their  falsity.  It  was  reported,  on  the  alleged 
authority  of  men  whose  love  for  Ireland  was  as 
undoubted  as  their  integrity  was,  unquestioned, 
that  the  "  physical  force  "  men  in  the  secret  socie- 
ties had  become  tired  of  "  the  peace  policy,"  had 
kicked  over  the  traces,  and  had  given  their  leaders 
to  understand  that  the  National  League  leaders  in 
Ireland  had  had  a  fair  trial  and  a  full  opportunity 
to  carry  out  their  aims ;  that  they  had  failed  in 


704  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

their  plans,  and  "sterner  measures"  must  now  be 
resorted  to.  These  statements  orathered  streno:th 
and  force  as  they  were  repeated  in  some  of  the 
public  journals  and  at  numerous  meetings,  until 
finally  it  was  asserted  that  Alexander  Sullivan 
and  Patrick  Eg^an  had  threatened  Mr.  Parnell 
that  they  would  cause  a  revolt  in  the  National 
League  in  America  and  the  organizations  which 
were  said  to  be  aiding  and  supporting  it.  This 
falsehood  was  wired  over  the  Atlantic  cable  and 
published  in  very  many  of  the  most  prominent 
English  newspapers.  Its  publication,  as  might 
be  expected,  created  consternation  among  the 
Irish  Parliamentary  Party  and  dismay  among  all 
classes  of  the  people  in  Ireland.  Inquiry  suc- 
ceeded inquiry,  by  cable  and  by  letter,  from 
nearly  every  part  of  the  civilized  world.  The  lie, 
growing  as  it  travelled,  soon  reached  rather  por- 
tentous proportions,  and  a  comprehensive  and  em- 
phatic denial  on  the  part  of  the  American  Execu- 
tive was  imperatively  demanded.  To  ignore  it 
any  longer  would  have  been  sheer  folly.  In 
order  that  the  lie  should  be  stamped  out  thor- 
oughly, and  that  its  authors  should  not  have  even 
the  slightest  qhance  of  thereafter  revivifying  it,  it 
was  determined  that  the  denial  should  be  compre- 
hensive and  circumstantial.  In  April,  1 886,  the  fol- 
lowing document  was  mailed  to  the  members  of 
the  League,  and  a  summary  of  its  contents  given  to 
the  newspapers  by  means  of  the  Associated  Press: 


the  great  irish  struggle.  705 

"  (confidential.) 

"Executive  Office,  Irish  National  League 
OF  America,  Lincoln,  Neb.,  April  20,  1886. 

"  To  the  Officers  and  Members  of  the  League  : 
We  regret  to  say  that  now,  on  the  very  eve  of 
the  final  struggle  for  our  country's  rights,  when 
every  true  lover  of  Ireland  should  sink  his  per- 
sonal ambition,  jealousy  and  vanity,  a  few  unscru- 
pulous, designing  men  are  trying  by  the  most 
maliijnant  falsehoods  and  insinuations  to  damage 
the  League,  provoke  dissension  in  its  ranks,  and 
create  misunderstanding  and  distrust  between  the 
Leaofue  in  America  and  the  League  in  Ireland. 
As  will  be  seen  from  the  following  cable,  the 
plotters  have  utterly  failed : 

''To  Egafi,  Lincoln,  Neb.:  English  papers  pub- 
lished cables  from  America  saying  Egan  and  Sulli- 
van condemn  Parnell's  peaceful  policy,  and  threaten 
a  revolt.  This  is  done  to  prejudice  Gladstone's 
statement  Thursday.  Wire  authority  to  contra- 
dict. "  Harrington. 

"Secretary  of  League  in  Ireland 
and  M.  P.  Dublin. 

"■To  Harrington:  Statement  that  Sullivan  or  I 
condemned  Parnell's  peaceful  policy  is  an  unqual- 
ified falsehood,  which  could  only  have  emanated 
from  an  enemy  to  the  League  and  a  traitor  to 
Ireland.  "Patrick  Egan. 


706  GLADSTONE— PA  RNELL. 

"  London,  April  8. 
"7b  Egan:  Gladstone's  scheme  for  Irish  legis- 
lature, amended  on  Parnell's  lines,  is  worthy  the 
acceptance  of  Ireland.  "Dillon, 

"  Davitt, 
"Dp.  Kenny. 

"  Detroit,  April  8. 

"7<?  Charles  S.  Parnell,  House  of  Com?no7is, 
Londo7i:  Friends  of  Ireland,  of  yourself,  of  Pres- 
ident Patrick  Egan,  and  of  ex-President  Alex- 
ander Sullivan,  are  continuing  to  make  war  upon 
and  to  injure  you  in  the  usual  way.  In  evidence 
thereof  I  send  you  draft  to-day  for  £\2,oqo  (sixty 
thousand  dollars),  for  Parliamentary  Fund.  We 
hereby  threaten  you  that  we  will  continue  to  wage 
just  such  warfare  until  Ireland  is  governed  by  her 
own  Parliament.  "  Charles  O'Reilly, 

"  Treasurer  Irish  National  Leao^ue  of  America. 

"  London,  April  1 6. 
''To  Rev.  Charles  O'Reilly,  Treasurer  Irish 
National  League,  Detroit :  I  thank  you  for  your 
encouraging  message  advising  despatch  of  mag- 
nificent subscripUon  of  £\  2,000.  We  here  attach 
no  credence  whatever  to  the  statement  recently 
cabled  from  America  as  to  the  existence  of  any 
ill-feeling  on  the  part  of  the  National  League  of 
America  or  its  leaders  towards  our  movement. 
We  have  the  utmost  confidence  in  the  leaders  of 
the  American  Leaeue.     We  value  their  exertion 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  707 

and  help  most  highly,  and  we  trust  that  your  or- 
ganization may  maintain  and  extend  its  influence 
and  high  efficiency  until  the  victory  of  the  Irish 
cause  is  secured.  "  Parnell. 

"  We  will  not  refer  further  to  these  men,  beyond 
saying  that  the  members  of  the  League  should 
make  no  compromise  with  disruptionists  under 
whatever  name  or  guise  they  may  attempt  their 
work.  A  great  responsibility  rests  upon  us.  We 
must  be  active,  patient,  vigilant.  We  must  push 
on  vigorously  the  great  work  we  ha\e  in  hand,  on 
the  strict  lines  laid  down  by  the  great  representa- 
tive conventions  of  our  race  held  at  Philadelphia 
and  Boston.  In  the  interest  of  union  and  discipline 
all  moneys  collected  by  branches,  or  through  the 
influence  of  members  of  the  League,  should  be 
remitted  through  the  National  Treasurer,  Rev. 
Charles  O'Reilly,  Detroit,  Mich.  There  is  but 
one  National  League  in  Ireland ;  there  should  be 
but  one  amongst  our  people  here,  and  any  other 
policy  can  have  but  one  inevitable  outcome — to 
create  dissension  and  brinor  discredit  on  the  cause 
of  Ireland.     Yours,  very  respectfully, 

"  Patrick  Egan,  President. 

"Charles  O'Reilly,  Treasurer. 

"John  P.  Sutton,  Secretary." 

It  is  sufficient  for  me  to  say  that  the  foregoing 
document  did  not  fail  of  its  intended  effect. 


708  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

PUBLIC    UTTERANCES    OF    EMINENT   AMERICANS. 

The  speech  on  the  Irish  situation  delivered  by 
the  late  Hon.  Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  Vice-Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  at  Indianapolis,  Indiana, 
on    September  8,    1885,  fell  like  a   thunderbolt 
from  a  clear  sky  on   the  British  politicians,  who 
had  been  confidently  telling  the  English  nation, 
through  the  London  Times  and  other  organs,  that 
"men  high  in  authority  in  America  have  no  sym- 
pathy with  this  Irish  movement."    Coming  as  it  did 
from  the  lips  of  almost  the  highest  official  in  au- 
thority in  the  United  States,  it  wiped  that  falsehood 
out  of  existence  and  taught  those  alleged  states- 
men a  lesson  that  many  of  them,  wiser  than  their 
fellows,  were  prompt  to  profit  by.     To  say  that 
it   produced  a  feeling  of  anger  but  poorly  de- 
scribes the  soreness  that  pervaded  the  ranks  of 
the  British  Conservatives  and  that  elicited  from 
the    rabid   anti-Irish-at-any-cost  organs  so-called 
editorials,  that  teemed  with  venom  and  rancorous 
invective,  not  only  against  the  gifted  speaker  him- 
self, but  also  against  the  American  people.     Some 
of  them  even  spoke  in  a  menacing  tone  and  more 
than  hinted  that  his  language  might  prove  a  casus 
belli!     His  speech  was  delivered  on  a  memorable 
occasion  at  Indianapolis,  a  monster  mass-meeting 
held  in  that  progressive  city  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Irish  National  League.     Mayor  McMaster, 
a  staunch  Republican,  presided,  and  introduced 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  70^ 

Vice-President  Hendricks,  who,  in  the  course  of 
his  long  address,  said  : 

•'  Every  Irishman  here  to-night,  every  Irishman 
in  America,  is  a  protest  against  the  governing  of 
Ireland  by  England.  How  is  it  that  you  are  here, 
having  left  almost  the  most  beautiful  island 
in  the  world?  Perhaps  no  part  of  this  globe  is 
more  attractive  than  Ireland,  and  yet  you  left  Ire- 
land. You're  here  because  you  could  not  get 
good  government  in  Ireland.  Forty-five  years  ago 
the  population  of  the  'Green  Isle'  was  nine  mil- 
lions of  people,  a  large  population  for  a  region 
of  country  only  the  size  of  Indiana.  To-day,  after 
the  lapse  of  forty-five  years,  that  population  is  only 
five  millions,  a  loss  in  less  than  a  half  a  century 
of  four  millions  of  people;  almost  an  entire  half 
of  the  entire  population  gone  from  Ireland.  I 
know  the  famine  of  1843  ^^^  much  to  do  with 
this,  but  bad  government  and  cruelties  by  her 
landlords  have  done  more  than  famine  and  pes- 
tilence to  depopulate  the' beautiful  isle.  I  would 
say  it  was  a  serious  matter  when  a  man  or  a  woman 
chooses  to  leave  the  home  that  has  been  the 
home  of  ancestors  for  many  centuries,  and  when, 
on  account  of  bad  government,  unjust  laws,  and 
a  cruel  system  of  tenantry,  there  has  been  driven 
away  almost  half  of  the  population.  The  question, 
'What  is  to  be  done?'  comes  up.  It  cannot  re- 
main always  this  way.  The  landlord  who  draws 
the  rent  cannot  always  enjoy  it  in  Paris  or  Lon- 


710  GLADSTONE— PARNELL 

don.  He  must  have  part  in  the  fortunes  of  the 
people  of  the  country  or  quit.  It  cannot  always 
be  that  the  people  of  Ireland  are  to  be  op- 
pressed. I  think  the  day  of  tyranny  in  every 
form  is  to  pass  away,  and  that  the  day  is  soon  to 
come  when  all  men  will  be  blessed  with  good 
government  and  just  laws. 

"The  mission  of  the  men  sent  from  Ireland  to 
Parliament  is  to  have  for  Ireland  what  we  In- 
dianians  enjoy — to  claim  the  right  to  make  her 
own  laws,  simply  because  we  can  regulate  our 
own  affairs  better  than  any  one  else  can  regulate 
them  for  us ;  so  Irishmen  on  their  soil,  for  that 
simple  reason,  must  be  the  legislators  for  Ireland. 
That  was  the  great  argument  first  asserted  in 
this  country. 

"  One  hundred  years  have  established  the  fact 
that  self-government  with  respect  to  local  affairs 
is  the  true  system  of  government  in  tnis  w^orld. 

"The  great  trouble  in  Ireland  to-day  is  the 
Land.  Where  there  is  trouble  with  the  lands  in 
any  country,  the  trouble  is  exceedingly  great. 
Much  has  been  done  in  Ireland  to  make  better  the 
conditions  of  the  tenant,  but  the  land  trouble  still 
exists,  and  it  must  be  regulated.  It  must  be 
regulated  as  we  regulate  such  matters  in  Indiana 
— by  legislators  from  the  soil.  No  question  can 
arise  between  landlord  and  tenant  in  Indiana  that 
is  not  regulated  by  our  Legislature.     So  Ireland 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  "JH 

must  have  local  seir-government.  Who  in  Indiana 
would  trust  to  any  other  State  the  legislation 
for  her  schools,  the  building  up  of  her  industries? 
So,  according  to  Mr.  Parnell,  not  only  the  agri- 
cultural classes,  but  the  mechanics,  the  people  of 
the  cities  and  towns,  must  live,  and  when  Ireland 
becomes  clothed  with  the  right  and  power  of  local 
self-eovernment,  these  matters  will  be  cared  for. 
This  is  a  doctrine  so  plainly  expressed  and  so 
powerful  in  its  application  to  human  interests 
that  it  will  never  stop.  It  will  go  on.  It  is  not 
reasonable  that  in  London  the  relation  of  the 
landlord  and  the  tenant  in  Ireland  shall  be  fixed. 
It  is  against  reason  and  justice  that  such  a  prac- 
tice should  permanently  prevail. 
I  think  this  cause  will  go  further  than  has  been 
yet  mentioned.  It  will  result  in  just  what  we 
have — a  written  Constitution.  Ah,  that  is  what  I 
hope  to  see,  Ireland  to  be  governed  by  a  written 
Constitution.  Will  it  not  be  a  grand  sight  when, 
in  the  city  of  Dublin,  there  will  meet  a  constitu- 
tional convention  to  form  a  constitution  for 
Ireland?  I  observe  Mr.  Parnell  favors  only 
one  branch,  one  parliamentary  body.  He  is 
afraid  of  a  House  of  Lords,  perhaps,  but  he 
could  have,  as  we  have  here,  a  Senate  in  its  stead, 
and  thus  be  saved  from  errors  and  faults  of  legis- 
lation. I  do  not  know  of  anything  that  would 
give  me  greater  pleasure  than  to  attend  that  con- 
stitutional convention  in  Dublin.  I  want  to  live 
42 


712  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

until  that  time.  Let  us  come  back  to  the  great 
question  which  Hes  at  the  foundation  of  govern- 
ment, the  question  of  the  right  of  the  people  to 
make  their  own  laws,  and  that  no  other  power  has 
the  right  to  make  laws  for  them.  You  remember 
where  we  stood  one  hundred  years  back.  You 
remember  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  we 
asserted  the  right  of  men  to  govern  themselves. 
This  i^  the  great  foundation  idea  of  America,  and 
is  now  being  applied  in  Ireland,  a  cause  to  which 
you  are  to  give  your  sympathy  and  support — the 
ri^ht  of  man  to  sfovern  himself  and  to  abolish 
laws  that  are  inimical  to  his  welfare.  In  hope 
that  principle  was  asserted  at  Bunker  Hill,  and  in 
glorious  triumph  it  was  proclaimed  at  Yorktown." 
Although  many  eminent  Americans  had,  many 
months  previously,  in  response  to  letters  from 
that  tried  patriot,  Patrick  Ford,  of  the  Irish 
TVorld,  New  York,  written  in  strong  condemna- 
tion of  England's  treatment  of  Ireland,  declaring 
their  belief  that  "  Ireland  should  be  free  to-day,  at 
least  to  the  enjoyment  of  those  rights  wrested 
from  her  years  ago,  and  to  the  restoration  of  the 
land  stolen  by  a  despotism  which  tolerates  no 
equals,  has  no  true  friends,  always  making  vassals 
and  slaves  of  the  debtor  nations  of  the  world 
with  whom  she  deals,"  none  of  their  utterances 
carried  with  them  the  weight  and  the  impressive- 
ness  of  Mr.  Hendricks'  deliverance.  It  gave  new 
hope  and  fresh  courage  to  the  friends  of  the  Irish 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE  713 

cause,  stimulated  the  contributions  to  the  Irish 
Parliamentary  Fund,  and  brought  recruits  in 
large  numbers  to  the  branches  of  the  National 
League.  In  a  word,  his  address  did  more  than 
any  other  at  that  time  to  make  the  advocacy  of 
the  Irish  cause  "fashionable,"  not  alone  among 
American  citizens,  but  with  those  of  the  wealthy 
Irish-Americans  or  descendants  of  Irish  im- 
migrants, who,  for  various  reasons,  had  heretofore 
kept  tliemselves  aloof  from  Irish  organizations  of 
all  sorts.  His  death,  which  occurred  a  few  months 
afterwards,  was  deeply  regretted  by  the  whole 
Irish  race.  In  their  assemblies,  public  and  private^ 
their  sorrow  was  expressed  by  draping  their  halls 
and  meeting-room.s  with  crape,  by  the  adoption  of 
resolutions  eulogistic  of  his  life  and  services,  by 
the  heartfelt  messages  of  condolence  telegraphed 
to  his  widow,  and  by  the  numerous  representative 
delegations  sent  from  great  distances  to  attend 
his  funeral. 

Another  speech  which  excited  some  comment 
and  considerable  indignation  in  Eno^land  was  that 
which  was  made  in  Portland,  Maine,  on  June  i, 
i8S6.  by  another  equally  distinguished  American, 
the  Hon.  James  G.  Blaine.  It  was  an  eloquent 
definition  by  an  American  statesman  of  "The 
Irish  Question."  After  a  brief  introduction  by 
the  governor  of  the  State,  who  presided,  Mr. 
Blaine  said  : 

"  Directly   after   the   published    notice  of  this 


714  GLADSTONE— PARNELL 

meedno-  I  received  a  letter  from  a  venerable^ 
friend  in  an  adjacent  county  asking  me,  as  I  was 
announced  to  speak,  to  explain  if  I  could,  just 
what  the  '  Irish  Question  '  is.  I  appreciate  this 
request,  for,  on  an  issue  that  calls  forth  so  much 
sympathy  and  so  much  sentiment  among  those 
devoted  to  free  government  throughout  the  world, 
and  evokes  so  much  passion  among  those  who 
are  directly  concerned  in  the  contest,  there  may  be 
danger  of  not  giving  sufficient  attention  to  the 
simple  elementary  facts  which  enter  into  the  case. 
"  What  then  is  Home  Rule  ?  It  is  nothing  more 
and  nothing  less  than  that  which  is  enjoyed  by 
every  State  and  every  Territory  of  the  United 
States.  Negatively,  it  is  what  the  people  of  Ire- 
land do  not  enjoy.  In  a  Parliament  of  670  mem- 
bers, Great  Britain  has  567  and  Ireland  has  103. 
Except  with  the  consent  of  this  Parliament,  in 
which  the  Irish  members  are  outnumbered  by 
more  than  five  to  one,  the  people  of  Ireland 
possess  no  legislative  power  whatever.  They 
cannot  incorporate  a  horse  railroad  company,  or 
authorize  a  ferry  over  a  stream,  or  organize  a 
gas  company  to  light  the  streets  of  a  city.  Apply 
that  to  yourselves.  Suppose  the  State  of  Maine 
were  linked  with  the  State  of  New  York  in  a 
joint  Legislature  in  which  New  York  had  five 
members  to  Maine's  one.  Suppose  you  could  not 
take  a  step  for  the  improvement  of  your  beautiful 
city,  nor  the  State  organize  an  association  of  any 


THE  GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  7;^5 

kind,  or  adopt  any  measure  for  its  own  advance- 
ment, unless  by  the  permission  of  the  overwhelm- 
ing majority  of  the  New  York  members.  How 
long  do  you  think  the  people  of  Maine  would 
endure  that  condition  of  affairs?  And  yet,  that 
illustrates  the  position  which  Ireland  holds  with 
respect  to  England,  except  that  there  is  one 
aesfravatinsf  feature  in  addition  which  would 
not  apply  to  New  York  and  Maine;  namely, 
the  centuries  of  oppression  which  have  inspired 
the  people  of  Ireland  with  a  deep  sense  of  wrong 
on  the  part  of  England. 

"  If  the  Irish  question  were  left  to  the  people 
of  the  United  States  to  adjust,  I  suppose  we  should 
say,  adopt  the  federal  system !  Let  Ireland 
have  her  legislature,  let  England  have  her 
legislature,  let  Scotland  have  her  legislature, 
let  Wales  have  her  legislature,  and  then  let  the 
Imperial  Parliament  legislate  for  the  British 
Empire.  Let  questions  that  are  Irish  be  settled 
by  Irishmen,  questions  that  are  English  be  settled 
by  Englishmen,  questions  that  are  Welsh  be 
settled  by  Welshmen,  and  questions  that  are 
Scotch  be  setded  by  Scotchmen.  And  let  ques- 
tions that  affect  the  whole  Empire  of  Great  Britain 
be  settled  in  a  Parliament  in  which  the  four  great 
constituent  elements  shall  be  impartially  repre- 
sented. That  would  be  our  direct,  shordiand 
method  of  setding  the  question.  Under  that  sys- 
tem  we  have    lived  and  grown    and   prospered 


716  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

in  the  United  States  of  America,  continually 
expandinor  and  continually  strengthening  our 
Institutions. 

"  I  do  not  forget,  however,  that  it  would  be  polit- 
ical empiricism  to  attempt  to  give  the  details 
of  any  measure  that  would  settle  this  long  conten- 
tion between  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  To 
prescribe  definite  measures  for  a  British  Parlia- 
ment would  be  a  presumption  on  our  part  as 
much  as  for  the  English  people  to  prescribe 
definite  measures  for  the  American  Congress. 
I  have  noticed  so  many  errors,  even  among 
the  leading  men  of  Great  Britain  concerning  the 
United  States,  that  I  have  been  taught  modesty  in 
attempting  to  criticise  the  processes  and  the 
specific  measures  of  Parliament.  I  well  remember 
that  Lord  Palmerston,  on  a  grave  occasion  during 
our  civil  war,  informed  the  House  of  Commons 
that  'the  President  of  the  United  States  could  not 
of  his  own  power  declare  war ;  that  it  required 
the  assent  of  the  Senate.'  And  yet  every  school- 
boy in  America  knows  that  it  is  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States,  both  Senate  and  House, 
to  which  the  war  power  is  given  by  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States.  But  Lord  Palmer- 
ston's  error  was  not  so  bad  as  another  which 
is  said  to  have  occurred  in  the  British  Parliament, 
when  a  member  in  an  authoritative  manner 
assured  the  House  that  no  law  in  the  United 
States  was  valid  until  it  had  received  the  assent 


THE   GREAT   IRISH  STRUGGLE.  717 

of  the  Leofislatures  of  two-thirds  of  the  several 
States;  and  a  fellow-member  corrected  him, 
saying,  '  You  are  wrong.  The  American  Con- 
gress cannot  discuss  any  measure  until  two-thirds 
of  the  Legislatures  of  the  States  shall  have  already 
approved  it.'  Admonished  by  these  and  like 
instances  I  refrain  from  any  discussion  of  the 
details  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  Home  Rule  Bill.  It 
may  not  be  perfect.  It  may  not  give  to  Ireland  all 
that  she  is  entitled  to.  I  only  know  that  it  is 
a  step  in  the  right  direction,  and  that  the  long- 
oppressed  people  of  Ireland  hail  it  as  a  great  and 
beneficent  measure  of  relief.  They  and  their 
representatives  understand  it,  and  more  than  all, 
Mr.  Gladstone  understands  it,  and  that  is  enough 
fOx  me. 

"  On  the  occasion  of  Lord  John  Russell's  some- 
what famous  motion  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
in  1844,  to  inquire  into  the  condition  of  Ireland, 
Mr.  Seward  said — I  mean  Lord  Macaulay,  but  I 
am  sure  that  the  memory  of  neither  will  be 
injured  by  mistaking  one  for  the  other — Lord 
Macaulay  said,  in  one  of  his  most  eloquent 
speeches :  '  You  admit  that  you  govern  Ireland 
not  as  you  govern  England,  not  as  you  govern 
Scotland,  but  as  you  govern  your  new  conquests 
in  India;  not  by  means  of  the  respect  which  the 
people  feel  for  the  law,  but  by  means  of  bayonets 
and  artillery  and  intrenched  camps.'  If  that 
were  true  in  1844,  I  am  sure  I  do  not  exaggerate 


718 


GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 


when  I  say  that  the  long  period  of  forty-two  years 
wliich   has  Intervened  has  served  to  strengthen 
rather  than  to  diminish  the  truth  of  Macaulay's 
words.     And    now,  without  in  any  way  denying 
the   facts  set  forth  in   Macaulay's   extraordinary 
statement,  Lord  Salisbury  comes  forward  with  a 
remedy  of  an   extremely   harsh    character.     He 
says  in  effect  that  '  the  Irish  can  remain  as  they 
are  now    situated,  or  they    can    emigrate.'     But 
the  Irish  have  been  in  Ireland  quite  as  long  as 
Lord  Salisbury's  ancestors  have  been  in  England^ 
and   I   presume    much    longer.     His    Lordship's 
lineage  is  not  given  in  'Burke's  Peerage'  beyond 
the  illustrious  Burleigh  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  day, 
and  possibly  his  remote  ancestry  may  have  been 
Danish  pirates   or  peasants  in   Normandy  before 
the  Conquest,  and  centuries  after  the  Irish  people 
were    known    in    Ireland.     I     repeat,    therefore, 
Lord  Salisbury's  proposition  is  extremely  harsh. 
Might  we  not,  Indeed,  with  good  reason   call   It 
impudent?     Would    it   trangress  courtesy  if  we 
called  it  insolent?     Would  we  violate  truth  if  we 
called  it  brutal    in    its   cruelty?     We   have   had 
occasion  in  this  country  to  know  Lord  Salisbury 
too    well.     He   was    the    bitterest   foe    that   the 
Government   of  the    United    States  had    in    the 
British    Parliament   durino^    our  civil    war.     He 
coldly  advocated  the  destruction  of  the  American 
Union    simply  as    a    measure  of  increasing  the 
commerce  and  prosperity  of  Great  Britain.     His 


THE   GREAT   IPISH    STRUGGLE.  719 

policy  for  Ireland  and  his  policy  towards  the 
United  States  are  essentially  alike  in  spirit  and 
in  temper. 

"Another  objection  to  Mr.  Gladstone's  policy 
comes    from  the  Presbyterians  of  Ulster,  in  the 
form    of  an  appeal  to  the  Presbyterians  of  the 
United  States  against  granting  the  boon  of  Home 
Rule  to  Ireland.     As  a  Protestant  I  deplore  this 
action.      I    was    educated    under    Presbyterian 
influences,    in    a    Presbyterian    college.     I    have 
connection  with  that  church  by  blood  and  affinity 
that  began  with  my  life  and  shall  not  cease  until 
my  life  ends.     And  yet  I  am  free  to  say  that  I 
should  be  ashamed  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
of  America  if  it   responded  to  an  appeal   which 
demands  that  five  millions  of  Irish  people  shall 
be    perpetually    deprived    of    free    government 
because  of  the  remote  and  fanciful  danger  that  a 
Dublin     Parliament    might     interfere    with    the 
religious  liberty  of  Presbyterians  in  Ulster.     Mr. 
Chairman,  if  the  Home  Rule  Bill  shall  pass,  the 
Dublin    Parliament    wall    assume    power   with   a 
greater  responsibility  to  the  public  opinion  of  the 
world    than    was    ever   before    imposed    upon   a 
legislative  body,  because,  if  the  Dublin  Parliament 
is   formed,  it  will   be   formed  by  reason    of  the 
pressure  of  public  opinion  from  the  liberty-loving 
people  of  the  world.     And  if  the  Irishmen  who 
compose  it  should  take  one  step  against  perfect 
liberty  of  conscience,  or  against  any  Protestant 


720  GLADSTONE— PARNELL 

form  of  worship,  they  would  fall  under  a  con- 
demnation even  greater  in  its  intensity  than  the 
friendship  and  sympathy  which  their  own  suffer- 
ings have  so  widely  called  forth.  But  I  have  not 
the  remotest  fear  that  any  such  result  will  happen. 
The  Catholics  and  the  Presbyterians  of  Ireland 
will  live  and  do  just  as  the  Presbyterians  and 
Catholics  of  the  United  States  live  and  do. 
They  will  accord  perfect  liberty  of  conscience 
each  to  the  other,  and  will  mutually  be  governed 
by  the  greatest  of  Christian  virtues,  which  is 
charity. 

"  Mr.  Gladstone's  policy  includes  another 
measure.  It  proposes  to  do  something  to  relieve 
the  Irish  from  the  Intolerable  oppression  of 
absentee-landlordism.  Let  me  here  quote  Lord 
Macaulay  again.  Speaking  of  Ireland,  whose 
territory  is  less  than  the  territory  of  the  State 
of  Maine,  less  than  thirty-three  thousand  square 
miles  in  extent,  Lord  Macaulay,  in  the  same 
speech  which  I  have  already  quoted,  says  :  '  In 
natural  fertility  Ireland  is  superior  to  any  area 
of  equal  size  in  Europe,  and  is  far  more  important 
to  the  prosperity,  the  strength,  and  the  dignity  of 
the  Bridsh  Empire  than  all  our  distant  de- 
pendencies together;  more  important  than  the 
Canadas,  the  West  Indies,  South  Africa,  Austra- 
lasia, Ceylon  and  the  vast  dominions  of  the 
Moguls.'  I  am  sure  that  if  any  Irish  orator  had 
originally    made    that    declaration    in    America 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  721 

he    would    have    been    laughed    at    for    Celtic 
exaggeration  and  imagination. 

**  This  extraordinary  statement  from  Lord  Mac- 
aulay  led  me  to  a  practical  examination  of  Ire- 
land's resources.  I  went  at  it  in  a  plain  farmer-like 
way  and  examined  the  statistics  relating  to  Ire- 
land's production.  I  gathered  all  my  information 
from  British  authority,  but  could  get  no  later  ac- 
counts than  for  the  year  1880  and  for  the  years 
preceding;  and  I  give  you  the  result  of  my  ex- 
amination, frankly  confessing  that  I  was  astounded 
at  the  magnitude  of  the  figures.  In  the  year  1880 
Ireland  produced  four  million  bushels  of  wheat. 
But  wheat  has  ceased  to  be  the  crop  of  Ireland. 
She  produced  eight  million  bushels  of  barley. 
But  barley  is  not  one  of  the  great  crops  of  Ire- 
land. She  produced  seventy  million  bushels  of 
oats,  a  very  extraordinary  yield  considering  Ire- 
land's small  area.  The  next  Item  I  think  every 
one  will  recognize  as  peculiarly  adapted  to  Ire- 
land ;  of  potatoes  she  produced  one  hundred  and 
ten  million  bushels,  within  sixty  millions  of  the 
whole  product  of  the  United  States  for  the  same 
year.  In  turnips  and  mangels  together  she  pro- 
duced one  hundred  and  eighty-five  million 
bushels,  vastly  greater  in  weight  than  the  largest 
cotton  crop  of  the  United  States,  She  produced 
of  flax  sixty  millions  of  pounds,  and  of  cabbage 
eight  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  pounds.  She 
produced    of  hay    three    million    eight  hundred 


722  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

thousand  tons.  She  had  on  her  thousand  hills 
and  in  her  valleys  over  four  million  head  of  cattle, 
and  in  the  same  pasturage  she  had  three  million 
five  hundred  thousand  head  of  sheep.  Slie  had 
five  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  horses  and  two 
hundred  and  ten  thousand  asses  and  mules. 
During  the  year  1880  she  exported  to  England 
over  seven  hundred  thousand  cattle,  over  seven 
hundred  thousand  sheep  and  nearly  half  a  million 
of  swine.  Pray  remember  all  these  came  from  a 
territory  not  quite  so  large  as  the  State  of  Maine, 
and  from  an  area  of  cultivation  less  than  twenty 
millions  of  acres  in  extent !  But  with  this  mao^nifi- 
cent  abundance  on  this  fertile  land,  rivalling  the 
richness  of  the  ancient  Goshen,  there  are  men  in 
want  of  food  and  appealing  to-day  to  the  charity 
of  the  stranger,  and  compelled  to  ask  alms  through 
their  blood  and  kindred  in  America.  Why 
should  this  sad  condition  occur  in  a  land  that  over- 
flows with  plenty,  and  exports  millions  of  produce 
to  other  countries?  According  to  the  inspired 
command  of  the  great  lawgiver  of  Israel,  'Thou 
shalt  not  muzzle  the  ox  that  treadeth  out  the  corn,' 
and  St.  Paul,  in  quoting  this  text  in  his  first  epistle 
to  Timothy,  added,  'The  laborer  is  worthy  of  his 
reward ; '  and  yet  many  of  the  men  engaged  in 
producing  these  wonderful  harvests  are  to-day 
lacking  bread  to  satisfy  their  hunger. 

"Mr.  Gladstone  believes,  and  we   hope  more 
than  half  of  Great  Britain  believes  with  him,  that 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  723 

the  cause  of  this  distress  in  Ireland  is  to  be  traced 
in  large  part  to  the  ownership  of  the  land.  Seven 
hundred  and  twenty-nine  Englishmen  own  half 
the  land  in  Ireland.  Three  thousand  other  men 
own  the  majority  of  the  other  half  of  the  agri- 
cultural land  of  Ireland.  Counting  all  the  hold- 
ings, there  are  but  nineteen  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  eighty-eight  owners  of  land  in  Ireland, 
and  this  in  a  population  of  more  than  five  million 
souls.  Produce  that  condition  of  affairs  in  Maine, 
or  in  all  New  England,  and  the  distress  here  in  a 
few  years  would  be  as  great  as  the  distress  in 
Ireland  to-day.  Mr.  Gladstone,  speaking  as  a 
statesman  and  a  Christian,  says  that  this  condi- 
tion of  affairs  must  cease,  and  that  the  men  who 
till  the  land  in  Ireland  must  be  permitted  to  pur- 
chase and  hold  it. 

"The  story  is  not  3^et  half  told.  The  tenants 
and  the  peasantry  of  this  little  island,  not  so  large, 
mind  you,  as  Maine,  pay  a  rental  of  sixty-five 
millions  of  dollars  per  annum  upon  the  land. 
Besides  this,  Ireland  pays  an  imperial  tax  of 
thirty-five  millions  of  dollars  annually,  and  a  local 
tax  of  fifteen  millions  more.  Thus  the  enormous 
sum  of  one  hundred  and  fifteen  millions  of  dol- 
lars is  annually  wrought  out  of  the  bone  and  flesh 
and  spirit  of  the  Irish  people,  and  no  wonder  that 
under  this  burden  many  lie  crushed  and  down- 
trodden. 

"I  believe  the  day  has  dawned  for  deliverance 


724  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

from  these  great  oppressions.  But  from  the  ex- 
perience of  Ireland's  past  it  is  not  wise  to  be  too 
sanguine  of  a  speedy  result.  For  one,  therefore, 
I  shall  not  be  disappointed  to  see  Mr.  Gladstone's 
measures  defeated  in  this  Parliament.  The  Eng- 
lish members  can  do  it.  But  there  is  one  thing 
which  the  English  members  cannot  do.  They 
cannot  permanently  defy  the  public  opinion  of 
the  liberty-loving  people  of  the  civilized  world. 
Lord  Hartington  made  a  very  significant  admis- 
sion when,  in  a  complaining  tone,  he  accused  Mr. 
Gladstone  of  having-  conceded  so  much  in  his 
measure  that  Irishmen*  would  never  take  less. 
Well,  I  do  not  know  the  day,  whether  it  be  this 
year  or  next  year  or  the  year  after  that,  or  even 
years  beyond,  when  a  final  settlement  shall  be 
made;  but  I  have  absolute  confidence  that  if  Mr. 
Gladstone's  bills  are  defeated,  the  settlement  will 
never  be  made  on  as  easy  terms  for  England  as 
the  distinguished  Premier  now  proposes. 

"They  complain  sometimes  in  England  of  such 
meetings  as  we  are  now  holding.  They  say  we 
are  transcending  the  just  and  proper  duties  of  a 
friendly  nation.  Even  if  that  were  so,  the  Eng- 
lishman who  remember  1862-3-4  should  maintain 
a  discreet  silence.  Yet  I  freely  admit  that  mis- 
conduct of  Englishmen  during  our  war  would  by 
no  means  justify  misconduct  on  our  part  now,  I 
do  not  refer  to  that  as  any  palliation  or  as  ground 
for  justification  if  we  were  doing  wrong.     I  do 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  725 

not  adopt  the  flippant  cry  of  tit  for  tat,  or  the 
illogical  twit  of  tu  quoque.  Indeed,  there  has  been 
nothing  done  in  America  that  is  not  strictly 
within  the  lines  of  justice  and  strictly  within  the 
limits  of  International  obligation.  Nor  is  any- 
thmg  done  in  the  United  States  with  the  intention 
of  injuring  or  with  the  remotest  desire  to  injure 
Great  Britain.  The  English  people  themselves 
are  divided,  and  the  American  people  sympathize 
with  what  they  believe  to  be  the  liberal  and  just 
side  of  English  opinion.  We  are  no  more 
sympathizing  with  Ireland  as  against  England  In 
the  past  than  we  are  sympathizing  with  Glad- 
stone against  Salisbury  in  the  England  of  the 
present.  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  England 
herself,  apparently  notappreclating  herown  course 
towards  Ireland,  has  never  failed  in  the  last  fifty 
years  to  extend  sympathy  and  sometimes  the 
helping  hand  to  oppressed  nationalities  in  Europe 
struggling  to  be  free  from  tyranny.  When  Hun- 
gary resisted  the  rule  of  Austria,  Kossuth  was  as 
much  a  hero  in  England  as  he  was  in  America. 
When  Lombardy  raised  the  standard  of  revolt 
against  the  House  of  Hapsburg,  the  British  Min- 
istry could  scarcely  be  held  back  from  open  ex- 
pression of  sympathy.  And  when  Sicily  revolted 
against  the  reign  of  the  Neapolitan  Bourbons, 
English  sympathy  was  so  active  that  Lord  Pal- 
merston  was  openly  accused  of  permitting  guns 
from   Woolwich  Arsenal  to  be  smusfcrled  on   to 


726  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

the  Island  of  Sicily  to  aid  the  insurrection  against 
Kinor  Bomba. 

"  The  people  of  the  United  States,  therefore, 
imitate  many  examples  of  England  and,  quite 
apart  from  any  consideration,  except  the  broad 
one  of  human  fellowship,  stand  forth  as  the  friends 
of  Ireland  in  her  present  distress.  They  do  not 
stand  forth  as  Democrats.  They  do  not  stand 
forth  as  Republicans.  They  do  not  stand  forth 
as  Protestants.  They  do  not  stand  forth  as  Cath- 
olics. But  they  stand  forth  as  citizens  of  a  free 
republic,  sympathizing  with  freedom  throughout 
the  world. 

"  If  I  had  a  word  of  personal  advice  to  give,  or 
if  I  were  in  a  position  to  give  authoritative  coun- 
sel, it  would  be  this :  the  time  is  coming  that  will 
probably  try  the  patience  and  the  self-control  of 
the  Irish  people  more  severely  than  they  have 
been  tried  in  any  other  stage  In  the  progress  of 
their  long  struggle.  And  my  advice  Is  that  by 
all  means  and  with  every  personal  and  moral  in- 
fluence that  can  be  used,  all  acts  of  violence  be 
suppressed.  Irishmen  have  earned  the  consoli- 
dated opinion  of  that  part  of  the  Christian  world 
that  believes  in  free  government.  Let  them 
have  a  care  that  nothingf  be  done  to  divide  that 
opinion.  Let  no  act  of  imprudence  or  rashness, 
or  personal  outrage  or  public  violence  produce  a 
reaction.  Never  has  a  cause  been  conducted 
with  a  clearer  head  or  with  better  judgment  In  Its 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  727 

Parliamentary  relations  than  that  which  has  been 
conducted  by  Mr.  Parnell.  I  regard  it  as  a  very 
fortunate  circumstance  that  Mr.  Parnell  is  a  Prot- 
estant. It  has  been  the  singular,  and  in  many 
respects  the  happy  fortune  in  every  Irish  trouble 
to  be  so  led  that  generous-minded  men  the  world 
over  might  see  that  it  was  not  sectarian  strife,  but 
a  struggle  for  freedom  and  good  government. 
See  how  often  in  the  past  the  leading  man  in 
Irish  agitation  has  been  a  Protestant :  Dean 
Swift,  Molyneux,  Robert  Emmet,  Theobald  Wolf 
Tone,  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald,  Henry  Grattan, 
and  I  might  lengthen  the  list.  These  patriots 
carried  the  Irish  cause  high  above  and  beyond  all 
considerations  of  sectarian  difference  and  founded 
it  on  the  rights  of  human  nature,  as  Jefferson  de- 
fined the  American  cause  in  our  own  revolution- 
ary period.  *  Thus  led  and  thus  guarded  the  Irish 
cause  must  prevail.  There  has  never  been  a 
contest  for  liberty  by  any  portion  of  the  British 
Empire  composed  of  white  men  that  was  not  suc- 
cessful in  the  end,  if  the  white  men  were  united. 
By  union  the  thirteen  colonies  gained  their  inde- 
pendence. By  union  Canada  gained  every  con- 
cession she  asked  upon  the  eve  of  a  revolution, 
and  there  is  nothing  to-day  which  Canada  could 
ask  this  side  of  absolute  separation  that  would 
not  be  granted  for  the  asking. 

'T  have  only  one  more  word  to  say,  and  that 

again  is  a  word  of  advice.     The  men  of  Irish 
43 


728  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

blood  in  this  country  should  keep  this  question, 
as  it  has  been  kept  thus  far,  out  of  our  own  polit- 
ical controversies.  They  should  mark  any  man 
as  an  enemy  who  seeks  to  use  it  for  personal  or 
for  partisan  advancement.  To  the  sacredness  of 
your  cause  conducted  in  that  spirit  you  can,  in  the 
lofty  language  of  that  most  eloquent  of  Irishmen, 
Edmund  Burke — *  You  can  attest  the  retiring 
generations,  you  can  attest  the  advancing  gener- 
ations, between  whom  we  stand  as  a  link  in  the 
great  chain  of  eternal  order.  Conducted  in  that 
spirit  you  can  justify  your  cause  before  earthly 
tribunals,  and  you  can  carry  it  with  pure  heart 
and  strong  faith  before  the  judgment-seat  of 
God.'  '• 

AMERICAN    LEGISLATURES    AND    A    COLONIAL    PARLIA- 
MENT   SPEAK    FOR    HOME    RULE. 

An  important  chapter  in  the  history  of  the 
movement  in  America  is  found  in  the  recocrnition 
given  by  many  of  the  legislative  assemblies  of 
the  States  of  the  justice  of  the  Irish  nation's  plea 
for  self-government.  In  every  case  where  action 
was  taken  by  them  on  this  subject  their  resolu- 
tions were  so  worded  that  they  gave  high  encour- 
agement to  "the  Irish-American  Cabinet"  and 
the  rank  and  file  of  the  League  membership. 
Jowa  was  the  first  State  Legislature  tliat  sounded 
the  trumpet-call,  the  echoes  of  which  were  taken 
up  and  repeated  by  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut, 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  729 

New  York,  and  other  great  States.  On  April  9, 
1886,  the  following  joint  resolution  was  passed  by 
the  Iowa  Leo;islature: 

''Be  it  Resolved  by  the  Senate,  the  House  con- 
curriog,  that  the  people  of  Iowa  love  liberty  and 
self-government.  That  they  believe  that  govern- 
ment by  the  people  under  constitutional  limita- 
tions secures  to  the  governed  peace,  contentment 
and  prosperity.  The  people  of  Iowa  sympathize 
with  the  people  of  Ireland  in  their  efforts  to  se- 
cure self-government  at  this  time.  That  they  ex- 
tend to  them  congratulations  over  the  prospect 
of  Home  Rule  in  Ireland,  and,  too,  that  a  friend 
so  great  as  Mr.  Gladstone  has  arisen  in  England 
to  espouse  their  cause." 

The  minutes  of  the  joint  assembly  from  which 
that  resolution  is  copied  say  that  it  was  "concurred 
in  unanimously  by  a  rising  vote  of  the  House." 

On  the  afternoon  of  that  day  the  following  ca- 
blegram was  sent  to  Ireland  by  instruction  of 
the  joint  assembly : 

"  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  April  9,  1886 — Charles 
Stewart  Parnell,  M.  P. :  The  Iowa  Legislature, 
in  session,  send  greeting  to  Messrs.  Parnell  and 
Gladstone  on  the  hopeful  oudook  of  legislative 
independence  for  Ireland. 

"J.  A.  T.  Hull,  President  Senate. 
"Albert  Stead, 

''Speaker  House  of  Representatives. 
"Wm.  Larrabee,  Governor y 


730  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

On  Monday,  April  12,  1886,  the  Speaker  of  the 
New  York  State  Assembly  asked  and  obtained 
unanimous  consent  to  offer  the  following  resolu- 
tions: 

''Resolved  (if  the  Senate  concur),  That  the  peo- 
ple of  the  State  of  New  York  do  hereby  tender 
the  Irish  people  their  hearty  sympathy  in  the  he- 
roic struggle  they  are  now  making  for  Home 
Rule  in  Ireland. 

"■Resolved,  That  they  view  with  mingled  feelings 
of  gratitude  and  respect  the  noble  stand  taken  by 
England's  most  illustrious  statesman,  William  E. 
Gladstone,  in  defence  of  popular  government  for 
the  people  and  by  the  people. 

''Resolved,  That  we  tender  our  congratulations 
to  the  English  people  on  the  fact  of  their  having 
at  length  a  Government  possessing  the  courage 
and  magnanimity  to  make  an  effort  to  do  justice 
to  the  wronged  and  long-suffering  country." 

They  were  unanimously  adopted,  and  on  the 
following  day  were  presented  in  the  Senate,  and 
there  also  received  the  same  unanimous  action. 
On  Tuesday,  April  13,  1886,  the  Connecticut 
House  of  Representatives  unanimously  agreed  to 
a  resolution  introduced  by  Mr.  Phelan,  of  Bridge- 
port, expressing  "  sympathy  with  Ireland  in  her 
struggle  for  Home  Rule,"  and  indorsing  Mr. 
Parnell  and  Mr.  Gladstone.  On  Wednesday, 
April  14,  1886,  the  following  resolutions  were 
passed  by  the  Rhode  Island  House  of  Represent- 
atives : 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE  731 

"W/iereas,  The  Rt.  Hon.  W.  E.  Gladstone, 
Prime  Minister,  in  the  face  of  great  prejudice,  has 
announced  his  intention  of  introducing  a  bill 
granting  Home  Rule  to  Ireland ;  therefore,  the 
Senate  concurring  therein,  be  It 

''Resolved,  That  the  Legislature  of  Rhode  Island 
congratulates  Mr.  Gladstone  and  Mr.  Parnell 
upon  the  great  step  which  has  been  taken. 

"'Resolved,  That  we  do  hereby  tender  them  our 
best  wishes  for  their  success. 

"Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  State  be  in- 
structed to  transmit  copies  of  these  resolutions  to 
Messrs.  Gladstone  and  Parnell." 

In  the  Ohio  General  Assembly  a  resolution, 
with  a  long  preamble,  was  introduced  by  John 
Haley,  of  Cleveland,  on  Wednesday,  April  14, 
1 886,  and  was  adopted  unanimously.  The  reso- 
lution reads : 

"Resolved,  That  the  proposed  measure  about  to 
be  introduced  by  the  Hon.  William  E.  Gladstone, 
guaranteeing  to  Ireland  legislative  independence, 
'  meets  with  the  hearty  sympathy  of  this  General 
Assembly,  and  that  we  have  full  and  implicit  con- 
fidence that  through  the  statesmanship  of  the 
Chief  Premier  of  England,  aided  by  that  patriotic 
and  sagacious  leader,  Charles  Stewart  Parnell,  the 
wrongs  of  the  Irish  people  will  soon  be  righted." 

Added  importance  was  given  in  the  minds  of 
thoughtful  men  to  Parnell's  constitutional  strug- 
gle for  Ireland's  autonomy  by  the  manly  and  out- 


732  GLADbTONE— PARK  ELL. 

spoken  action  of  the  British  Colonial  Parliament 
of  Quebec,  Canada,  which,  amidst  the  ringing 
cheers  of  the  House  and  the  applause  of  the  Can- 
adas,  adopted  the  following: 

"  Whereas,  The  rig  lit  of  self-government  is  sa- 
cred to  the  Canadian  people,  and 

"  Whereas,  They  believe  and  know,  from  actual 
experience,  that  constitutional  government  brings 
strength,  peace,  union  and  prosperity  to  the  na- 
tion ;  be  it 

^'Resolved,  That  this  House  regards  with  great 
satisfaction  and  sympathy  the  efforts  of  the  Right 
Honorable  W.  E.  Gladstone  to  peacefully  solve 
the  problem  of  Home  Rule  in  Ireland  without 
disintegrating  the  Empire. 

''Resolved,  That  the  Speaker  of  this  House  be 
directed  to  communicate  a  copy  of  these  resolu- 
tions to  the  Right  Honorable  W.  E.  Gladstone." 

As  I  close  this  section  I  feel  it  incumbent  on 
me  to  make  a  part  of  this  record  the  historical 
fact  that  almost  every  prominent  member  of  the 
United  States  Senate  and  House  of  Representa- 
tives has,  either  in  his  public  speeches  or  in  let- 
ters intended  for  the  public  eye,  assured  the  peo- 
ple at  large  of  his  honest  conviction  that,  as  Con- 
gressman Stone,  of  Missouri,  phrased  it,  he 
"  could  not  be  American  and  not  be  for  Ireland." 
What  a  long  array  of  illustrious  names  of  Amer- 
ican statesmen,  who  have  spoken  on  behalf  of  the 
Green    Isle,   looms   up   before  the    mental  view 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE  733 

of  the  writer  as  he  recalls  their  patriotic  dis- 
courses: Hon.  John  Sherman,  U.  S.  Senator  for 
Ohio ;  Hon.  John  A.  Logan,  U.  S.  Senator  for 
Illinois ;  Hon.  C.  H.  Van  Wyck,  U.  S.  Senator 
for  Nebraska ;  Hon.  Eugene  Hale,  U.  S.  Senator 
for  Maine ;  Hon.  William  P.  Frye,  U.  S.  Senator 
for  Maine ;  Hon.  Leland  Stanford,  U.  S.  Senator 
for  California ;  Hon.  G.  Stoneman,  Governor  of 
California ;  Hon.  J.  Ireland,  Governor  of  Texas ; 
Hon.  Robert  E.  Pattison,  Governor  of  Pennsylva- 
nia ;  Hon.  Wm.  Larrabee,  Governor  of  Iowa ; 
Hon.  L,  F.  Hubbard,  Governor  of  Minnesota ; 
Hon.  Geo.  F.  Hoar,  U.  S.  Senator  for  Massachu- 
setts ;  Hon.  R.  L.  Gibson,  U.  S,  Senator  for  Lou- 
isiana;  Hon.  J.  R.  McPherson,  U.  S.  Senator  for 
New  Jersey;  Hon.  Philetus  Sawyer,  U.  S.  Sen- 
ator for  Wisconsin  ;  Hon.  G.  G.  Vest,  U.  S.  Sen- 
ator for  Missouri ;  General  Anson  G.  McCook, 
Secretary  of  the  U.  S.  Senate;  General  Phil. 
Sheridan ;  Hon.  Henry  W.  Blair,  U.  S.  Senator 
for  New  Hampshire ;  Judge  William  D.  Kelley, 
M.  C.  for  Pennsylvania ;  Hon  H.  L.  Dawes,  U. 
S.  Senator  for  Massachusetts ;  Hon.  T.  A.  Hen- 
dricks, Vice-President  of  the  United  States  ;  Hon. 
Warner  Miller,  U.  S.  Senator  for  New  York ; 
Hon.  Samuel  J.  Randall,  M.  C.  for  Pennsylvania ; 
Hon.  J.  H.  Reagan,  M.  C.  for  Texas !  As  I  am 
not  compiling  a  directory  of  the  distinguished 
men  of  the  United  States,  I  will  content  myself 
with  saying  that  the  list  of  these  names  could  be 
drawn  out  to  nearly  an  indefinite  length. 


734  GLADS  lONK—PARNELL. 

TO   STRENGTHEN    GLADSTONE'S    HANDS. 

On  April  20,  1886,  President  Egan  and  his  na- 
tional colleagues  sent  out  an  address  to  the  offi- 
cers  and  members  of  all  the  branches  in  the 
United  States,  in  which  they  said : 

"To-day  we,  the  members  of  the  Irish  Na- 
tional League  of  America,  who  have  stood  by  the 
cause  of  Ireland  and  kept  the  old  flag  flying  when 
Irish  Nationalism  was  unfashionable,  and  when 
success  seemed  almost  hopeless,  have  just  reason 
to  feel  proud  of  the  glorious  position  to  which 
that  cause  has  been  advanced. 

"Through  the  courage,  determination,  perse- 
verance and  discipline  of  our  people  at  home, 
backed  by  the  support  of  our  organization  in 
America,  and  the  sympathy  of  the  civilized  world, 
the  demand  of  Ireland  for  the  restoration  of  her 
national  rights  has  been  brought  home  to  Eng- 
land in  a  way  she  dare  not  longer  ignore.  Mr. 
Gladstone,  with  the  genius  and  courage  of  a  true 
statesman,  has  risen  to  the  necessities  of  the  oc- 
casion, and  has  introduced  into  the  House  of  Com- 
mons two  measures — one  granting  to  Ireland  a 
Parliament  of  her  own,  the  other  providing  for  the 
purchase  of  the  Landlord's  interest  in  the  lands, 
and  its  transfer  to  the  occupying  tenants — which,  if 
passed,  with  certain  essential  modifications  pointed 
out  by  Mr.  Parnell,  will,  we  believe,  bring  peace, 
happiness,  and  contentment  to  our  long-distracted 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  735 

and  long-suffering  country.  Those  measures  are 
now  assailed  by  the  most  powerful  and  most  un- 
scrupulous combinations,  composed  of  men  who, 
from  hereditary  prejudice  and  class  interests,  are 
enemies  of  ail  human  progress  and  popular  rights." 
"All  sides  admit  the  great  importance  of  Amer- 
ican opinion  in  influencing  the  settlement  of  this 
vital  question.  Every  Branch  of  the  League 
should,  therefore,  without  a  moment's  delay,  or- 
ganize citizens'  meetings,  composed  of  the  most 
representative  men  of  all  shades  of  American 
polidcs  and  men  of  all  nationalities,  and  by  that 
means  obtain,  in  the  form  of  resolutions,  such  an 
unequivocal  expression  of  genuine  American 
opinion  as  will  strengthen  the  hands  of  Mr.  Par- 
nell  and  Mr.  Gladstone  in  the  coming  struggle. 

"  Fellow-workers  of  the  National  League,  we 
appeal  to  you  earnestly  to  close  up  your  ranks, 
to  organize  actively,  to  shun  every  man  who  at 
this  important  crisis  of  our  country's  fate  would 
attempt  to  divide  your  strength,  or  introduce  into 
your  councils  the  demon  of  discord,  and  to  renew 
your  exertions  to  aid  by  honest,  active,  earnest 
work  in  securing  that  triumph,  which  now  seems 
so  close  at  hand,  of  the  great  principle  for  which 
we  are  contending — the  right  of  Irishmen  '  to  life, 
liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness'  in  their  own 
land '' 

Within  two  weeks  after  the  formal  publication 


736  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

of  that  address  among  the  branches  what  were 
then  styled  "  Citizens'  Committees  "  sprang  up  as 
if  by  magic  in  nearly  every  town,  city,  and  bor- 
ough. The  editors  of  the  leading  newspapers 
took  an  active  hand  in  their  formation,  and  were 
undoubtedly  the  most  potent  factors  in  creating 
and  keeping  in  motion  the  wave  of  popular  en- 
thusiasm in  favor  of  righting  Ireland's  wrongs 
that  at  this  date  swept  over  the  American  nation. 
Monster  mass-meetings  were  held,  at  which  many 
of  the  governors  of  the  States  and  the  mayors 
of  cities  presided;  indorsements  of  Gladstone's 
course  were  cabled  over  to  Mr.  Gladstone  and 
Mr.  Parnell,  and  contributions,  aggregating  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  dollars,  were  subscribed, 
partly  to  show  the  sincerity  of  the  donors  and 
partly  to  build  up  a  reserve  fund  for  whatever 
expenses  Mr.  Parnell  and  his  co-laborers  might 
require  should  Mr.  Gladstone's  measures  be  de- 
feated and  the  "  appeal  to  the  country  "  be  neces- 
sary. 

The  man  who  was  at  the  bottom  of  this  excite- 
ment in  this  country,  and  whose  "fine  Roman 
hand"  pointed  out  to  willing  assistants  the  way 
in  which  the  State  Legislatures  could  be  influenced 
"in  passing  appropriate  resolutions  and  securing 
messao-es  of  encoura2:ement  across  the  water," 
was  Patrick  Egan.  The  first  time  I  met  him  was 
during  the  Philadelphia  Convention.  He  had 
just  arrived  in  America  from  Paris,  France,  and 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE  737 

came  here  prepared  to  give  a  faithful  account  of 
the  immense  sums  of  money  that  had  passed 
through  his  hands,  all  of  it  given  for  the  cause  of 
Ireland  and  all  of  it  expended  in  her  service.  He 
remained  in  Philadelphia  for  several  days  after 
the  convention  and  was,  with  our  friend  Tom 
Brennan  the  ex-Secretary  of  the  Land  League 
in  Ireland,  the  guest  of  Phil.  J.  Walsh,  the  dry- 
goods  merchant,  of  that  city,  who  was,  in  1886,  fore- 
most among  the  most  energetic  members  of  the 
Citizens'  Committee  of  Philadelphia  in  aid  of  the 
Irish  Parliamentary  Fund.  The  chairman  of 
that  committee,  by  the  way,  was  John  Field,  of 
Young,  Smythe,  Field  &  Co.,  one  of  the  most  ex- 
tensive jobbing  houses  in  the  United  States.  At 
that  time,  and  indeed,  until  the  night  before  the 
day  on  which  he  was  nominated  for  President  of 
the  League  at  the  Boston  Convention,  Mr.  Egan 
never  imaeined  that  he  would  afterwards  be  called 
on  to  fill  the  commanding  position  of  a  leader 
of  the  Irish  race  in  America.  The  knowledge  of 
the  good,  work  he  had  done  on  behalf  of  Ireland, 
from  boyhood,  had  preceded  him  to  this  country 
and  enabled  the  men  and  women  of  the  League 
to  form  a  correct  estimate  of  his  character  and 
ability.  When,  therefore,  his  name  was  suggested 
as  Alexander  Sullivan's  successor,  his  unques- 
tionable fitness  for  the  position  was  at  once  recog- 
nized. How  well  he  has  filled  it  the  history  of  his 
work  tells.     He  was  born  in  Ballymahon,  County 


738  GLADSTONE— PARNELL, 

Longford,  Ireland,  in  1841.  While  quite  young 
the  family  removed  to  Dublin,  and  Patrick  en- 
tered the  grain  and  milling  concern  that  after- 
wards became  the  National  Milling  Company, 
His  ability  pushed  him  rapidly  forward.  He  was 
considered  one  of  the  best  book-keepers  in  Dub- 
lin In  time  he  secured  an  interest  in  the  prop- 
erty, and  finally  became  superintendent.  In  1868 
he,  in  company  with  Mr.  James  Rourke,  estab- 
lished a  bakery,  which  grew  to  be  an  extensive 
business  in  a  short  time.  In  1883  his  personal 
connection  with  it  ceased  for  reasons  that  will 
appear.  All  his  instincts  were  intensely  national, 
and  the  condition  he  found  his  people  in  only 
increased  his  hatred  of  the  dominant  power  and 
filled  him  with  the  desire  of  retributive  justice. 
In  i860  he  became  a  member  of  St.  Patrick's 
Brotherhood.  During  the  few  years  preceding 
the  'd"]  movement  he  was  one  of  the  most  active 
though  quiet  spirits  in  the  organization  and  prep- 
aration of  "the  boys"  for  what  was  believed  to 
be  a  struggle  with  a  reasonable  prospect  of  suc- 
cess. He  readily  saw  that  with  the  English  army 
in  Ireland  practically  demoralized  through  the 
Irish  soldiers  being  members  of  the  Fenian 
Brotherhood ;  with  a  fairly  well-drilled  native 
army ;  with  reliable  reenforcem.ents  in  England, 
and  with  the  almost  certainty  of  being  able  to 
seize  upon  stores  of  arms  and  ammunition  by 
strategy  in  Ireland,  the  Fenians  had  good  grounds 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE*.  739 

for  hope.  The  failure  of  that  movement  cast  a 
gloom  over  him,  but  he  did  not  despair  though 
the  blackness  of  night  seemed  to  have  settled  on 
his  country.  His  practical  mind  set  about  doing 
the  best  that  could  be  accomplished  under  exist- 
insf  conditions.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  Amnesty  Association,  which  was  organized 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  the  release  of  the 
prisoners  sentenced  for  connection  with  the  '^'j 
movement  and,  in  fact,  all  Irish  political  prisoners. 
Between  1868  and  1872  monster  demonstrations 
were  arranged  and  conducted  successfully  by  the 
association,  and  these  not  only  served  the  humane 
and  holy  purpose  of  bringing  the  patriots  from 
English  dungeons,  but  were  eagerly  seized  upon 
by  the  Nationalists,  whose  energy  was  untiring, 
to  revive  the  waning  spirit  of  the  masses  dis- 
couraged with  the  failure.  The  immense  orather- 
ings  were  made  mediums  for  the  exchange  of 
national  sentiment,  and  larofe  accessions  were 
made  to  the  ranks  of  the  National  Party. 

In  1869  Mr.  Egan  originated  the  great  Martin 
election  contest,  out  of  which  grew  the  Home 
Rule  movement  of  Isaac  Butt.  With  John 
Martin,  Isaac  Butt,  Professor  Galbraith,  of  Trin- 
ity College,  A,  M.  Sullivan  and  others,  he  joined 
in  the  organization  of  the  Home  Rule  Leao^ue, 
which,  for  a  time,  did  good  work.  In  1874,  when 
Parnell  ran  for  Parliament  in  County  Meath,  Mr. 
Egan  practically  conducted  the  canvass,  and  was 


740  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

mainly    instrumental    in    securing    Parnell's    first 
success.     In    1877   the   Home    Rule  League  be- 
came  divided.     The   "  Moderate  "  Home  Rulers 
were  led  by  Isaac  Butt,  and  meant  but  little  more 
than  an  easy  gliding  along  with  the  current  of 
events.     The  advanced  element,  who  gave  adher- 
ence to  Parnell,  were   for  earnest,  active  work. 
They  meant  to  secure  by  practical  and  practicable 
methods   real   advantages   for    the    Irish   people. 
Egan  gave  his  entire  support  to  Parnell,  and  the 
latter  was   not  slow  to  appreciate  his  wonderful 
influence.    When  Michael  Davitt,  in  1879,  started 
the  Land  movement,  Mr.  Egan  actively  co-operated 
with  him,  and  these  two,  with  Thomas  Brennan, 
induced  Parnell  to  take  it  up.     When  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Irish  National  Land  League  occurred, 
in  October  of  the  same  year,  it  was  Parnell  who 
induced   Mr.   Egan  to  accept   the   treasurership. 
The  Land  League  prospered  to  the  disgust  of 
the  Government.     It  became  so  successful  as  to 
assume  the  proportions  of  a  menace.     The  gov- 
ernment officials  thought  they  saw  in   it  a  con- 
spiracy, and  determined  to  crush  it.     The  leaders 
were  summarily  thrown  into  prison.     Then  came 
the  celebrated  state  trials,  lasting  fifteen  days  and 
extending  through  portions  of  December,  1880, 
and  January,  1881.     In   these  Mr.  Egan  was  an 
active  counsellor,  as  well  as  a  prisoner.     As  in 
everything  that  merited  his  support,  his  energy 
was  untiring. 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  741 

Falling  in  the  state  trial,  the  Government  then 
moved,  in  February,  1881,  to  suspend  the  habeas 
corpus  act,  so  that  they  might  be  able  to  arrest 
and  imprison  whom  they  pleased,  without  any 
form  of  trial.  The  Government  also  began  to 
hatch  a  scheme  to  seize  and  confiscate  the  Leao-ue 
funds.  The  leaders  thereupon  prevailed  on  Mr. 
Egan  to  take  the  funds  to  Paris  and  establish 
head-quarters  there,  so  as  to  maintain  communica- 
tion with  America  when  the  other  leaders  should 
be  arrested.  He  assented,  and  for  a  year  and  ten 
months  he  remained  in  that  city,  to  the  heavy 
detriment  of  his  large  business  in  Dublin.  As  an 
evidence  of  the  bitterness  of  the  Dublin  Castle 
Government  against  him,  they  arrested  his  part- 
ner and  kept  him  in  prison  for  four  months  with- 
out any  grounds  whatever,  and  for  no  other  object 
than  to  endeavor  to  ruin  Mr.  Egan  financially  by 
destroying  his  and  his  partner's  business.  In  the 
end  of  1882  Mr.  Egan  resigned  the  treasurership 
of  the  League,  and  received  the  warm  thanks  of 
a  convention  held  in  Dublin  and  presided  over 
by  Mr.  Parnell,  for  his  invaluable  services  to  the 
cause.  He  returned  to  Dublin  in  December, 
1882,  and  resumed  his  business,  still  aiding  the 
League  as  a  member,  but  his  troubles  were  not 
over.  In  February  of  1883  he  found  that  the 
Castle  officials  were  hatching  a  plot  to  indict  him  on 
charcres  in  connection  with  the  "No-Rent"  mani- 
festo.and  knowing  that  arrest  and  indictment  under 


742  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

the  then  state  of  the  laws,  and  especially  under 
the  unlimited  powers  of  the  Crown  in  the  matter 
of  jury-packing,  meant  certain  conviction,  he 
cleared  out,  and,  after  sundry  adventures,  arrived 
in  New  York.  He  subsequently  brought  his 
family  to  this  country,  sold  out  his  interest  in  the 
Dublin  bakeries  to  his  partner,  Mr.  Rourke,  and 
embarked  in  the  grain  business  in  Nebraska,  where 
he  is  the  proprietor  of  several  elevators. 

THE  THIRD   ANNUAL  CONVENTION   OF  THE  NATIONAL 

LEAGUE. 

On  the  afternoon  of  Wednesday,  August  18, 
1886,  President  Egan  called  the  Third  Annual  Con- 
vention of  the  Irish  National  League  of  America 
to  order  in  Central  Music  Hall,  Chicago.  Among 
the  noted  persons  present  were  Michael  Davitt ; 
John  E.  Redmond,  M.  P. ;  William  O'Brien,  M. 
P. ;  Thomas  Deasy,  M.  P. ;  Alexander  Sullivan  ; 
John  Devoy ;  Edward  Byrne,  of  the  Fi-eemans 
Journal,  Ireland;  Patrick  Ford,  of  the  Irish 
World,  New  York ;  Rev.  James  A.  Brehoney, 
Manayunk,  Philadelphia  ;  Rev.  William  Meagher, 
Philadelphia;  Judge  Thomas  Moran,  Chicago; 
Rev.  Dr.  O'Brien,  Toledo,  Ohio ;  Rev.  Geo.  W. 
Pepper,  Ohio;  P^ev.  J.  S.  McLaughlin,  New 
York;  Timothy  Maroney,  Louisiana;  Mrs.  Delia 
Parnell,  and  a  large  delegation  of  ladies  repre- 
senting branches  and  affiliated  societies  in  various 
sections  of  the  country. 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  743 

President  Egan's  opening  address  was  largely 
a  summary  of  the  political  happenings  in  Ireland 
and  Enorland,  a  caustic  arraig^nment  of  Engrlish 
prejudice,  and  an  earnest  exhortation  for  prudence 
and  harmony  during  the  deliberations  of  the 
convention.  "  Once  more,"  said  he,  "  the  elected 
delegates  of  the  Irish  National  League  of  America 
have  come  together  in  national  convention  to 
comply  with  the  conditions  of  the  constitution, 
and  to  adopt  such  measures  as  may  seem  best 
for  the  furtherance  of  the  great  and  holy  cause 
in  which  we  are  engaged.  We  shall,  I  am  glad 
to  say,  be  inspired  by  the  presence,  and  aided  by 
the  counsel,  of  the  man  who,  of  all  others — not 
even  excepting  our  great  leader  himself — holds 
the  warmest  place  in  the  hearts  of  the  Irish  exiles, 
the  man  whom  Charles  Stewart  Parnell  has 
called  the  father  of  the  Land  League — honest, 
fearless  Michael  Davitt.  We  shall  also  have  the 
inspiring  presence  and  aid  of  the  patriotic,  brave, 
and  faithful  delegation  from  Ireland — my  friend, 
William  O'Brien,  who  has  banished  more  snakes 
and  reptiles  from  Ireland  than  any  other  man 
since  the  days  of  St.  Patrick,  John  Redmond 
and  John  Deasy.  In  your  name,  in  the  name  of 
the  Irish  National  League  of  America,  I  welcome 
these  gentlemen  to  our  convention,  with  a  hearty 
Irish-American  cead  jitillefailthe. 

ludofe  Fitzo-erald  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  was  tem- 

porary  chairman.     He  counseled  harmony  in  the 
44 


744 


GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 


deliberations  of  the  convention  and  welcoming 
the  delegates  from  Ireland.  At  the  suggestion 
of  Alexander  Sullivan,  who  said  it  was  but  a 
repetition  of  the  course  adopted  at  the  Philadel- 
phia Convention,  it  was  unanimously  agreed  to 
"appoint  Messrs.  O'Brien,  Redmond,  Deasy  and 
Davitt  on  the  Committee  on  Resolutions,  as  repre- 
sentatives of  Ireland ;  the  purpose  of  this  action 
bein Of  two-fold:  i.  In  order  that  the  Irish  dele- 
gates  may  lend  their  counsel  to  prevent  the  pas- 
sage of  any  resolution  calculated  to  embarrass  the 
Irish  leader.  2.  That  the  world  may  behold  the 
perfect  unity  which  exists  between  the  Irish  and 
the  Irish- Americans." 

In  the  evening,  as  the  Committees  on  Creden- 
tials, Finance,  Resolutions,  Permanent  Organiza- 
tions, etc.,  were  unprepared  to  present  reports, 
the  convention  listened  to  a  brief  and  pithy  ad- 
dress by  the  fearless  William  O'Brien,  M.  P.,  the 
editor  of  Uiiited  Ii'eland.  "I  need  not  tell  you," 
said  he,  "  that  our  fight  in  Ireland  is  by  no  means 
over  yet,  and  I  need  not  tell  you  there  never  was 
a  convention  of  the  Irish  race  in  America  that 
attracted  more  anxious  attention  than  centres 
upon  this  hall  to-day  in  the  sight  of  every  friend 
and  every  enemy  of  Ireland  throughout  the  globe. 
Our  work,  as  I  said,  is  not  over.  We  have  a 
good  deal  of  rough  weather  and  of  rough  work 
before  us,  I  am  afraid,  in  Ireland.  By  the  time 
we  get  back  there  I  expect  we  will  find  our  people 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  745 

engaged  in  a  struggle  for  their  lives  and  for  their 
homes  and  for  the  life  of  our  movement.  That 
is  not  a  state  of  things  that  particularly  dismays 
us  or  dismays  them.  All  we  ask  is  that  now,  as 
ever,  and  now  more  than  ever,  you  should  be  at 
our  backs  in  the  fight.  All  we  ask  is  what  you 
have  to-day  most  abundantly  granted,  and  that 
is,  that  you  will  extend  to  Mr.  Parnell,  if  possible, 
a  larger  measure  than  ever  of  support  and  of 
confidence  and  of  sympathetic  consideration  in 
the  difficult  and  trying  times  that  are  before  us. 

"  What  is  the  secret  of  his  power  and  of  his 
mastery  in  the  eyes  of  English  statesmen  ?  Is  it 
his  eloquence  and  his  statesmanship?  It  is  not. 
It  is  because  they  know  that  now,  for  the  first 
time  in  our  unhappy  history,  they  are  dealing,  not 
with  an  Ireland  in  fragments  or  in  sections,  but 
they  are  dealing  with  a  people  united,  steady,  un- 
shakable— an  indestructible  Irish  nation,  bound 
together  as  one  man,  under  a  leader  whom  you 
and  whom  I  would  be  proud  to  follow  to  the 
cannon's  mouth  for  Ireland."  [The  convention 
rose  to  a  man  at  this  declaration,  and  cheered 
for  two  or  three  minutes.]  Mr.  O'Brien  con- 
tinued with  great  emphasis  :  "Aye  !  Those  cheers 
of  yours  will  ring  across  the  ocean,  and  I  Avill  tell 
them  that  they  are  dealing  now  with  an  Ireland 
that,  when  Mr.  Parnell  gives  the  word  to  halt  or 
to  move  forward,  the  whole  Irish  nation  and 
whole  Irish  race  will  take  up  and  pass  along  the 


746  GLADSTONE— PARNELL 

word  with  the  discipHne  of  a  grand  army  on  the 
march.  [Tremendous  cheermg  and  cries  of 
*  We  will  follow  you.']  Aye !  And  they  know 
well  that  it  is  forward  that  grand  army  is  march- 
ing-; forward  over  the  ruins  of  Landlordism  and 
over  the  ruins  of  English  domination  in  Ireland. 
Forward,  like  grim  death  under  a  leader  who  has 
never  yet  taken  one  backward  step  on  the  road 
to  Irish  independence.  That  is  the  secret  of  our 
strength  and  of  his  strength.  To-day,  by  your 
conduct  here  in  this  assembly,  you  have  given 
him  renewed  strength;  you  have  given  him 
strength  a  thousandfold. 

"Ah!  if  you  only  knew — I  am  glad  to  see  that 
to  some  extent  the  papers  did  make  you  know — 
how  our  brutal  enemies  in  the  press  of  London — 
thank  God !  it  is  only  London  now  and  not  Eng- 
land— have  acted  in  this  crisis.  If  you  only  knew 
how  they  are  straining  for  every  scrap  of  gossip 
about  dissensions  in  this  convention;  if  you  only 
knew  how  they  are  watching  you  at  the  end  of 
that  wire  (pointing  to  the  telegraphic  Instrument 
on  the  platform)  to-day,  throughout  the  world, 
and  how  they  would  have  crowed  and  exulted 
if  there  had  been  the  slightest  sign  of  strife  in 
this  tremendous  organization.  We  never  would 
have  heard  of  the  end  of  their  screaming  that 
Parnell  was  no  longer  the  leader  of  the  United 
Irish  race,  but  only  the  leader  of  a  faction, 
discredited  and  repudiated  by  the  Irish  In  America. 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  747 

Thank  God,  you  have  answered  that  to-day. 
Send  a  message  back  that  will  give  joy  to  the 
heart  of  every  Irishman  in  Ireland,  from  Cork  to 
Donegal,  when  they  read  in  the  morning  what 
you  have  done  here  to-day,  and  when  they  learn, 
what  is  proved  abundantly  to-day,  that  from  the 
Rocky  Mountains  to  the  Alleghenies  the  Irish 
race  in  America  are  for  Parnell  to  a  man  and  to 
the  death." 

On  the  morning  of  the  second  day's  session  it 
was  unanimously  decided  that  the  temporary 
officers  of  the  convention  should  hold  their  places 
permanently.  Secretary  Sutton  announced  that 
there  were  770  Branches  of  the  League  in  the 
United  States  and  Canada,  all  of  which  were 
represented  by  delegates  at  the  convention.  The 
report  of  the  Treasurer,  Rev.  Dr.  O'Reilly,  gave  a 
detailed  statement  of  the  receipts  and  expenditures 
of  the  past  two  years.  It  also  presented  the  follow- 
inp-  table  of  the  amounts  contributed  by  the  various 
States.  It  must  be  remembered  that  these 
amounts  are  simply  the  moneys  which  passed 
directly  through  the  hands  of  the  reverend  treas- 
urer, and  are  not  to  be  confounded,  in  any  way, 
with  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  sent  to 
Ireland  through  citizens'  committees,  societies, 
or  private  individuals: 

States  League  Dues  Par   Fund 

Ailcansas                             $26  oo  ,^156  50 

Alabama                   37  00 

Cahfoima      .      , 62469  13S5  60 


748 


GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 


States.                                           League  Dues  Par  Fund. 

Connecticut   $80669  $1260054 

Dakota  Territory 95  00  805  85 

Delawaie  3000  25500 

Florida 37  00 

Georgia 239  25  2345  60 

Illinois 126950  502892 

Indiana 5000  276004 

Iowa 485  25  4626  35 

Kansas 472  40  1 201  97 

Kentucky 286  55  3757  85 

Louisiana 186  00  4395  65 

Maine 12700  64200 

Maryland    22750  478863 

Massachusetts 1859  75  39034  5^ 

Michigan   577  c>o  697232 

Missouu    289  00  10012  00 

Minnesota 516  00  4869  57 

Mississippi     4000  100  00 

Nebraska    '93  5^  654130 

New  Hampshire 5000  1075  20 

New  York 688000  6614452 

New  Jersey ^S7  7°  16414  64 

Nevada  925  5" 

Ohio 50175  785387 

Oiegon    1500  715  oo 

Pennsylvania 228447  6685657 

Rhode  Island 737  97  4221  21 

South  Carolina 339  00 

Tennessee ^ 598  00  2S24  42 

Texas    24800  182925 

Vermont   24  ^O 

Virginia    152  50  422  85 

West  Virginia 875  00 

Wisconsin   134  65     ^'         916695 

District  of  Columbia 23000  1S97   "io 

Montana  69  00  1S02  85 

New  Mexico ^  68  00 

Utah ^ 30  00  405  90 

Washington  Territory 1 1  00 

Canada  and  Manitoba 57400  713700 

Nova  Scotia 80  00  1 1 5  00 

Donations  3904  05 

Total $2564558         $31425752 

Mr.  Brady,  of  Massachusetts,  handed  Rev.  Dr. 
O'Reilly  a  check  for  $3,000  from  Boston.  Presi- 
dent Egan  gave  him  a  check  for  $2,000  from 
Patrick  Ford,  of  the  Iiish  World,  and   $443  from 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  749 

Father  John  Shanley,  of  St.  Paul,  Minn.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  public  interest  I  give,  herewith,  a  complete 
statement  of  the  treasurer's  receipts  and  dis- 
bursements, from  the  day  on  which  Rev.  Dr. 
O'Reilly  accepted  office  until  the  close  of  this 
convention.  They  were  procured  for  me  by 
Roger  Walsh  from  Rev.  Dr.  O'Reilly's  secretary, 
J.  B.  McDowd : 

NATIONAL    LEAGUE   FUND  — STATEMENT  OF   RECEIPTS. 

From  May  i,  1S83,  to  August  11,  1884: 

From  Branches $24,372  21 

From  Donations    10,093  76 

Additional  Boston  Convention    3.562  23 

From  August  11,  18S4,  to  August  13,  1886: 

From  Branches 21,741  53 

From  Donations 904  05 

From  Patuck  Egan  (Salary  Returned).  6,000  00 

$66,673  78 

DISBURSEMENTS. 
From  May  i,  1883,  to  August  11,  18S4: 

Remitted  to  Alfred  Webb,  Ireland   . . .  ;?24,397  50 

Salaries  and  general  expenses   5t336  71 

From  August  11,  1884,  to  August  13,  1886: 

Remitted  to  Wm   O'Brien,  Iieland.   ..  4,847  50 

Salanes  and  general  expenses,  2  years  10,036  23 

Salary  Pres.  Egan,  2  years 6,000  00 

50,618  04 

Balance  on  hand $16,055  74 

PARLIAMENTARY   FUND — STATEMENT   OF   RECEIPTS. 
From  May  i,  1SS3,  to  August  11,  1884: 

From  all  sources         $4,739  05 

Additional  Boston  Convention  .      .  I,lil  00 

From  August  11, 1S84,  to  August  13, 1886  : 

Interest  on  deposits 175  00 

From  all  sources  314,257  32 

'- $320,282  57 

DISBURSEMENTS 
Transmitted  to  Chas.  S   Parnell  and  Trustees  of  the  Par- 
liamentary Fund 314,452  53 

Balance  on  hand $5>830  04 


750  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Rev.  Dr.  Geo.  C.  Betts,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions, 
presented  the  following  report  as  the  platform 
of  the  League : 

"Gentlemen  of  the  Convention:  Your  Com- 
mittee on  Resolutions  respectfully  submit  the  fol- 
lowing report: 

"  We,  the  delegates  of  the  Irish  National 
League  of  America,  in  convention  assembled, 
firmly  believing  in  the  principles  of  human  free- 
dom and  in  the  right  of  a  people  to  frame  their 
own  laws — a  right  which  lies  at  the  foundation 
of  the  prosperity  and  greatness  of  this  republic, 
and  which  has  been  advantageously  extended  to 
the  -colonial  possessions  of  Great  Britain — do 
hereby 

''Resolve,  i.  That  we  express  our  heardest  and 
most  unqualified  approval  of  national  self-govern- 
ment for  Ireland. 

"2.  That  we  heardly  approve  of  the  course 
pursued  by  Charles  Stewart  Parnell  and  his  Par- 
liamentary associates  in  the  English  House  of 
Commons,  and  we  renew  the  expression  of  our 
entire  confidence  in  their  wisdom  and  in  their 
ability  to  achieve  Home  Rule  in  Ireland, 

"3.  That  we  extend  our  heartfelt  thanks  to 
Mr.  Gladstone  for  his  great  efforts  on  behalf  of 
Irish  self-government;  and  we  express  our  grati- 
tude to  the  English,  Scotch  and  Welsh  democracy 
for  the  support  given  to  the  great  Liberal  leader 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE  751 

and  his  Irish  poUcy  during    the    recent   general 
elections.    • 

"4.  That  this  convention  hereby  returns  its 
thanks  to  the  American  people  and  press  for  the 
generous  support  which  they  have  given  to  the 
cause  of  self-CTovernment  in  Ireland. 

"  5.  That  we  record  our  sense  of  the  remark- 
able forbearance  and  self-restraint  exercised  by 
our  people  in  Ireland  in  the  face  of  a  cruel  and 
dishonest  system  of  extortion  to  which  they  are 
being  subjected  by  rack-renting  landlords,  and  in 
view  of  the  license  scandalously  extended  to  or- 
ganized lawlessness  in  the  north  of  Ireland  by 
partisan  officials ;  and  we  commend  the  laudable 
desire  of  the  people  of  Ireland  to  manage  their 
own  affairs  in  their  own  way. 

"  6.  That  we  hereby  thank  the  President,  Treas- 
urer, and  Secretary  of  the  Irish  National  League, 
for  the  faithful  and  efficient  manner  in  which  they 
have  discharged  the  arduous  duties  of  their  re- 
spective stations. 

"  7.  That  the  following  cablegram  be  forwarded 
in  the  name  of  the  Chairman  of  the  Convention 
to  Charles  Stewart  Parnell :  '  Delegates  to  the 
Irish  National  League  Convention  of  America 
send  greeting  from  our  body,  which  embraces 
representative  citizens  from  every  State  and  Ter- 
ritory in  the  Union,  and  also  from  Canada,  and 
assure  you  of  a  cordial  indorsement  of  your  pol- 
icy by  a  united  and  harmonious  convention.'  All 
of  which  is  respectfully  submitted." 


752  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

The  report  was  unanimously  adopted,  and  after 
a  number  of  excellent  speeches  by  John  Devoy 
of  New  York,  Alexander  Sullivan  of  Chicago, 
John  F.  Finerty  of  Chicago,  Dr.  William  B.  Wal- 
lace of  New  York,  Wm.  J.  Hynes  of  Chicago, 
John  F.  Armstrong  of  Georgia,  and  Michael 
Davitt,  the  resolutions  were  unanimously  passed 
by  a  rising  vote.  Chairman  Fitzgerald  here  in- 
troduced John  E.  Redmond,  M.  P.  for  Wex- 
ford, with  the  words :  "  I  have  now  the  honor  to 
present  to  you  one  of  the  old  fighting-stock  of 
Ireland,  who  will  thank  you  for  passing  the  reso- 
lutions which  he  and  his  colleagues  have  ap- 
proved." 

Speaking  in  a  deliberate  and  impressive  man- 
ner, and  enunciating  every  syllable  distincdy,  the 
young  Irish  representative's  address  elicited 
storms  of  applause.  "  I  rise,"  said  he,  "  in  the 
capacity  of  a  representative  of  the  Parliamentary 
and  National  League  to  thank  you  for  the  reso- 
lutions reported  by  the  committee  just  unani- 
mously carried.  The  duty  which  devolves  upon 
my  colleagues  and  myself  of  representing  the 
Irish  nation  at  home  at  this  great  gathering  of  the 
Irish  nation  abroad  is  one  in  which  the  honor  is 
great  and  the  responsibility  heavy.  Perhaps  the 
greatest  glory  of  our  nation  is  to  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  our  people,  driven  by  misfortune  and 
misrule  from  the  land  of  their  fathers,  and  coming 
to  this  land  rude  and  ignorant  and  poor,  have  yet 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE  75'> 

been  able  to  bear  an  honorable  part  in  building 
up  the  fortunes  of  America,  and  to  give  to  the 
world  undeniable  proof  that,  in  addition  to  the 
qualities  of  fidelity  and  honesty,  Irishmen,  under 
a  free  constitution,  can  be  worthy  sons  and  good 
citizens  of  their  adopted  country.  The  Irish  peo- 
ple in  this  great  republic,  no  less  American 
citizens  than  Irish  Nationalists,  have  arrested 
the  attention  and  commanded  the  admiration  of 
the  world.  The  assembly  of  this  day  is  a  proof 
of  devotion  to  a  great  cause,  perhaps  unparalleled 
in  history.  The  hardships,  the  oppressions,  and 
the  miseries  which  drove  you  or  your  fathers  from 
Ireland  have  wedded  your  hearts  to  Ireland's 
cause  by  ties  which  neither  prosperity  nor  dis- 
tance nor  time  can  destroy  or  weaken.  No  sel- 
fish interests  urge  you  to  support  the  old  cause, 
devotion  to  which  brought  ruin  and  death  upon 
your  forefathers  and  exile  upon  yourselves.  Sel- 
fishness and  worldly  interests  all  point  to  another 
course  as  the  best;  but  it  is  the  undying  glory  of 
Ireland  that  her  exiled  sons,  in  the  midst  of  pros- 
perity and  in  light  of  liberty,  have  yet  found  time 
to  absent  themselves  from  felicity  awhile  to  tell  her 
story,  and  have  made  it  part  of  their  daily  life  and 
nightly  dream  to  help  in  working  out  her  redemp- 
tion. The  Irish  soldier,  whose  sword  was  conse- 
crated to  the  service  of  America,  dreamed  as  he 
went  into  battle  of  the  day  when  his  arm,  skilled 
in  the  service  of  his  adopted  country,  might  strike 


754  GLADSTONE— PARNELL 

a  blow  for  Irish  liberty.  The  Irish  business  man, 
who  found  in  one  of  your  gigantic  cities  scope  for 
his  enterprise  and  his  industry,  looked  forward  to 
the  day  when  from  his  store  help  might  go  across 
the  Atlantic  to  sustain  Ireland's  champions  on  the 
old  sod. 

"  The  Irish  laborer,  whose  brawny  arms  have 
built  your  railroads  and  reared  your  stately  pal- 
aces, in  the  midst  of  his  labors  laid  aside  his  daily 
and  weekly  mite  to  help  those  who  were  fighting, 
time  after  time,  with  one  weapon  or  another,  in 
the  old  cause  against  the  old  enemies  of  Ireland. 
Rich  or  poor,  high  or  low  alike,  the  Irish  in 
America  have  never  forgotten  the  land  from 
whence  they  sprung,  and  our  people  at  home,  in 
their  joys  and  their  sorrows,  in  their  hopes  and 
in  their  fears,  turn  ever  for  help  and  encourage- 
ment and  confidence  to  this  great  republic  upon 
whose  fortunes  and  whose  future  rest  to-day  the 
blessino-s  of  the  Irish  race.  To  assist  at  this  oreat 
convention  of  the  Irish  nation  in  America,  espe- 
cially to  stand  here,  as  we  do,  as  the  ambassadors 
sent  here  to  represent  the  Irish  nation  at  home,  is 
indeed  a  supreme  honor  which  we  can  never  over- 
estimate, and  can  never  forget.  But  it  is  also  an 
honor  which  bears  with  it  indeed  an  overwhelm- 
ing sense  of  responsibility — the  responsibility  of 
showing  to  you  that  we  who  are  conducting  this 
movement  at  home  are  worthy  of  your  confi- 
dence, and  have  a  n'j,ht  to  claim  your  continued 


THE   GREAT    IRISH   STRUGGLE.  755 

support;  the  responsibility  also  of  clearly  placing 
before  you  the  conditions  upon  which  alone  we 
can  accept  that  support  or  value  that  confidence. 
"  Let  me  dwell  a  moment  upon  these  two  points. 
Are  we  worthy  of  your  confidence,  and  have  a 
right  to  claim  your  continued  support?  [An- 
swer: 'Yes!'  'Yes!']  In  order  to  answer 
this  question  satisfactorily  we  must  show  first  that 
we  are  guided  by  the  same  principle  and  ani- 
mated by  the  same  hopes  as  yourselves :  and  in 
the  second  place  that  our  movement  is  conducted 
on  a  wise  and  honest  policy.  What  is  the  princi- 
ple underlying  this  movement?  It  is  the  unques- 
tioned recognition  of  the  nationality  of  Ireland. 
We  are  working  not  simply  for  the  removal  of 
orievance  or  the  amelioration  of  the  material  con- 
dition  of  our  people.  Nothing,  I  think,  is  plainer 
than,  if  Ireland  had  in  the  past  abandoned  princi- 
ple, she  could  easily  have  bartered  her  national 
rights  to  England,  and  in  return  have  obtained  a 
certain  amount  of  material  prosperity.  If  only 
our  forefathers  had  meekly  accepted  the  yoke  of 
an  alien  rule,  Ireland's  fetters  would  have  been 
gilded,  and  the  hand  which  for  centuries  has 
scourofed  her  would  have  o-iven  her  as  a  slave  in- 
dulgences  and  favors  which  would  have  perhaps 
saved  her  from  sufferino-s  which  are  without  a 
parallel  in  the  history  of  oppression.  If,  at  the 
biddinof  of  Eno-Iand,  Ireland  had  ao-es  since  aban- 
doned  her  religion  and  consented  to  merge  her 


756  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

nationality,  we  might  to-day  be  the  sleekest  slaves 
fettered  by  the  bounty  of  our  conquerors,  Scot- 
land, by  even  a  smaller  compromise  of  her  na- 
tional existence,  has  secured  for  herself  compara- 
tive prosperity.  But  Ireland  has  preferred  rags 
and  an  unconquered  spirit  of  liberty  to  favors  won 
by  national  dishonor. 

"The  principle  embodied  in  the  Irish  move- 
ment of  to-day  is  just  the  same  principle  which 
was  the  soul  of  every  Irish  movement  for  the  last 
seven  centuries — the  principle  of  rebellion  against 
the  rule  of  strangers,  the  principle  which  Owen 
Roe  O'Neill  vindicated  at  Beuburb,  which  ani- 
mated Tone  and  Fitzgerald,  and  to  which  Emmet 
sacrificed  a  stainless  life.  Let  no  man  desecrate 
that  principle  by  giving  it  the  ignoble  name  of 
race  hatred.  Race  hatred  is  at  last  an  unreason- 
ing passion.  I  for  one  believe  in  the  brotherhood 
of  nadons,  and  bitter  as  the  memory  is  of  past 
wrongs  and  of  present  injustice  inflicted  upon  our 
people  by  our  ahen  rulers,  I  assert  the  principle 
underlying  our  movement  is  not  the  principle  of 
revenge  for  the  past,  but  of  justice  for  the  future. 
When  a  question  of  that  principle  arises  there 
can  be  no  such  thing  as  compromise.  The  Irish 
leader  who  would  propose  to  compromise  the 
national  claims  of  Ireland,  who  would  even  incline 
for  one  second  to  accept  as  a  settlement  of  our 
demand  any  concession  short  of  the  unquestioned 
recognidon   of  that  nadonality  which   has   come 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  757 

down  to  US  sanctioned  by  the  blood  and  tears  of 
centuries,  would  be  false  to  Ireland's  history,  and 
would  forfeit  all  claims  upon  your  confidence  or 
support.  Such  a  contingency  can  never  arise,  for 
the  man  who  would  be  traitor  enough  to  propose 
such  a  course  would  find  himself  no  loneer  a 
leader.  No  man  can  barter  away  the  honor  of  a 
nation.  The  one  great  principle  of  any  settle- 
ment of  the  Irish  question  must  be  the  recogni- 
tion of  the  divine  right  of  Irishmen,  and  Irishmen 
alone,  to  rule  Ireland.  This  is  the  principle  in 
support  of  which  you  are  assembled  to-day;  this 
is  the  principle  which  guides  our  movement  in 
Ireland.  But  consistendy  with  that  principle  we 
believe  it  is  possible  to  bring  about  a  settlement 
honorable  to  England  and  Ireland  alike,  whereby 
the  wrongs  and  miseries  of  the  past  may  be  for- 
gotten ;  whereby  the  chapter  of  English  wrongs 
and  of  Irish  resistance  may  be  closed,  and  where- 
by a  future  of  freedom  and  amity  between  the 
two  nations  may  be  inaugurated. 

"Such  a  settlement  we  believe  was  offered  to  us 
by  Mr.  Gladstone,  and  quite  apart  from  the  in- 
creased strength  which  Mr.  Gladstone's  pro- 
posals, even  though  temporarily  defeated,  have 
given  to  our  cause,  we  have,  I  think,  reason  to 
rejoice  at  the  opportunity  which  they  afforded  to 
our  suffering  and  exasperated  people  to  show 
the  magnanimity  of  their  natures  and  the  un- 
alloyed purity  of  their  love  of  liberty.     What  a 


758  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

spectacle  Ireland  afforded  to  the  world  when,  at 
last,  one  great  Englishman  arose  bold  enough 
and  wise  enough  to  do  justice  to  her  character! 
Ages  of  heartless  oppression  and  bitter  wrong, 
hundreds  of  thousands,  of  martyrs  to  Irish  freedom, 
ages  of  stupid  religious  persecution,  ages  of  de- 
population and  state-created  famine,  never-ending 
insult  and  ruthless  calumny — all,  in  that  one  mo- 
ment, were  forgotten  ;  and  the  feelings  uppermost 
in  the  hearts  of  the  Irish  race  at  home  and  abroad 
were  gratitude  to  the  aged  stateman  who  simply 
proposed  to  do  justice,  and  anxiety  for  a  'blessed 
oblivion  of  the  past.'  Who,  in  the  face  of  the  re- 
ception given  to  the  bill  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  cramped 
and  deformed  as  it  was  by  humiliating  safeguards 
and  unnecessary  limitations,  will  dare  to  say  that 
the  principle  of  our  movement  is  merely  race 
hatred  to  England?  No!  Last  April  Ireland 
was  ready  to  forget  and  forgive.  She  was  ready 
to  sacrifice  many  things  for  peace,  so  long  as  the 
one  essential  principle  for  which  she  struggled 
was  conceded.  She  was  willing,  on  the  day 
when  the  portals  of  her  ancient  senate-house  were 
reopened,  to  shake  hands  with  her  hereditary  foe 
and  to  proclaim  peace  between  the  democracies 
of  the  two  nations,  whom  the  Almighty  placed 
side  by  side  to  be  friends,  but  who  had  been  kept 
apart  by  the  avarice,  the  passions,  and  the  in- 
justice of  the  few.  What  centuries  of  oppression 
had  failed  to  do  seemed  about  to  be  accomplished 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  761 

by  one  word  of  conciliation,  by  one  act  of  justice. 
Almost  one  hundred  years  before  a  similar 
opportunity  arose.  Wolf  Tone  and  the  Society 
of  the  United  Irishmen  demanded  Catholic  eman- 
cipation and  Parliamentary  reform,  and  in  1795 
Lord  Fitzwilliam  came  to  Ireland  to  carry  out  a 
policy  of  justice.  Then,  just  as  last  April,  the  Irish 
question  was  on  the  very  brink  of  settlement,  the 
passion  of  revenge  died  out,  ancient  wrongs  were 
forgotten,  faction  faded  at  the  approach  of  liberty, 
and  for  one  brief  moment  the  clouds  lifted  over 
Ireland.  But  the  moment  was  brief.  Lord  Fitz- 
william was  recalled,  and  Lord  Camden  went  to 
Ireland  and  deliberately  commenced  the  policy 
which  culminated  in  the  rebellion  of  1 798.  Fatally 
like,  in  almost  all  its  details,  was  the  crisis  of  that 
day  to  the  crisis  of  to-day.  Once  again  the  policy 
of  conciliation  has  been  cast  aside  by  England. 
The  English  viceroy  who  represented  the  policy 
of  liberty,  and  who  for  the  first  time  since  1 795 
was  greeted  with  the  acclamations  of  the  popu- 
lace in  Dublin,  has  left  our  shores,  and  in  his 
place  has  come  one  bearing  the  hated  name  of 
Castlereagh.  Once  again  all  thoughts  of  amity 
with  Eno-land  have  been  banished  from  the  minds 
of  Irishmen,  and  to-day  we  are  once  more  face  to 
face  with  our  hereditary  foes.  The  same  cloud 
has  descended  once  more  upon  our  land,  but  we 
have  a  right  to  call  on  the  world  to  remember, 
when  by  and  by  it  perhaps  shudders  at  the  dark- 

45 


7g2  GLADSTONE— PARNELL, 

ness  and  gloom  and  horror  of  the  scene,  how 
brighdy  and  peacefully  the  Irish  landscape 
smiled  during  the  brief  sunshine  of  the  last  few 
months.  The  duty  of  the  moment  is  clear.  We 
have  given  England  the  most  convincing  proof 
that  on  the  concession  of  liberty  we  can  be  trusty 
friends;  it  now  remains  for  us  to  prove  for  the 
thousandth  time  that  as  slaves  we  can  be  formi- 
dable foes. 

"I  assert  here  to-day  that  the  government  of 
Ireland  by  England  is  an  impossibility,  and  I  be- 
lieve it  to  be  our  duty  to  make  it  so.  Were  our 
people  tamely  to  submit  to  the  yoke  which  has  been 
once  again  placed  on  their  necks  they  would  be  un- 
worthy of  the  blood  which  they  have  inherited 
from  fathers  who  preferred  poverty  to  dishonor 
and  death  to  national  slavery.  But  there  is  no 
danger  of  such  a  disgrrace.  The  national  move- 
ment  is  in  the  hands  of  a  man  who  can  be  bold 
as  well  as  cautious,  and  I  claim  the  confidence 
and  support  of  the  Irish  in  America,  not  only  be- 
cause they  are  animated  by  the  same  principle 
and  the  same  hopes  as  we  are,  but  because  our 
movement  at  home  is  conducted  on  a  wise  and 
honest  policy.  Judged  by  the  test  of  success, 
how  does  that  policy  stand?  Has  our  cause  for 
one  instant  stopped  in  its  progress  toward 
triumph?  When  last  you  assembled  in  conven- 
tion, two  years  ago,  the  Irish  party  in  Parlia- 
ment did  not  number  more  than    forty;    to-day 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  763 

we  hold  five-sixths  of  the  Irish  seats  and  speak 
in  the  name  of  five-sixths  of  the  Irish  people  in 
Ireland.  Two  years  ago  we  had  arrayed  against 
us  all  English  political  parties  and  every  English 
statesman ;  to-day  we  have  upon  our  side  one  of  the 
great  English  political  parties,  which,  though  its 
past  traditions  in  Ireland  have  been^  evil,  still 
represents  the  party  of  progress  in  England,  and 
the  greatest  statesman  of  the  day,  who  has  staked 
his  all  upon  winning  for  Ireland  her  national 
rights.  Two  years  ago  England  had,  in  truth,  in 
Mitchel's  phrase,  the  ear  of  the  world.  To-day, 
at  last,  that  ear,  so  long  poisoned  with  calumnies 
of  our  people,  is  now  open  to  the  voice  of  Ireland. 
Two  years  ago  the  public  opinion  of  the  world — 
aye,  and  even  of  this  free  land  of  America — was 
doubtful  as  to  the  justice  of  our  m.ovement; 
to-day  the  opinion  of  the  civilized  world,  and  of 
America  in  particular,  is  clearly  and  distinctly 
upon  our  side.'  Has  the  policy  which  has  wrought 
this  change  been  a  success,  and  are  the  men  who 
have  raised  the  Irish  cause  to  its  present  position 
worthy  of  your  continued  confidence  and  support? 
Well,  but  for  the  future,  what  is  the  policy  and 
who  are  to  be  the  framers  of  that  policy? 

"Here  I  come  to  the  second  point  I  mentioned 
at  the  beginning — namely,  the  condition  upon 
which  alone  we  can  value  your  confidence  or  ac- 
cept your  support.  So  long  as  we  are  true  to 
the  great  principle  of  Irish  nationality,  resolutely 


764  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

refusino-  either  to  be  bought  or  coerced  from  the 
riofid  adherence  to  the  full  measure  of  national 
right,  and  so  long  as  we  are  able  to  point  to  our 
past  policy  as  honest  and  successful,  we  say  w^e, 
and  no  others,  are  entitled  to  decjde  for  ourselves 
upon  Irish  soil  and  upon  our  own  responsibility 
what  our  policy  for  the  future  is  to  be.  This  is 
the  condition  upon  which  you  have  given  your 
support  to  us  in  the  past,  and  it  is  the  condition 
upon  which  alone  we  can  accept  your  support  for 
the  future.  Of  one  thing,  however,  you  may 
rest  assured — the  policy  in  Ireland  in  the  near 
future  will  be  one  of  fight.  The  chief  of  the 
present  English  Government  recently  prescribed 
as  a  remedy  for  Irish  discontent  twenty  years' 
coercion.  He  foro-ot  the  historical  fact  that  since 
the  act  of  union  there  have  been  eighty-six  years* 
coercion,  and  that  the  spirit  of  the  people  is 
sterner  and  higher  to-day  than  ever  it  was  before. 
For  coercion  we  are  quite  prepared,  and  to  coer- 
cion Lord  Salisbury  will  most  assuredly  be  forced 
to  come,  although  the  policy  of  the  new  govern- 
ment seems  to  be  to  try  and  stave  off  stern  meas- 
ures for  a  while.  They  will,  however,  soon  find 
out  their  mistake. 

"To  the  concession  of  justice  and  liberty  there 
is  no  alternative  but  coercion.  To  imagine  that 
Ireland  could  jog  along  peacefully  for  even  six 
months  under  the  rule  of  the  new  Castlereagh  is 
to  set  down  our  people  as  cravens  or  fools.     In 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  7(35 

the  coming  winter  the  laws  of  nature  itself  will 
forbid  the  possibility  of  peace.  For  the  last  six 
months  the  tenant  farmers  of  Ireland  have  played 
a  part  too  little  known  and  appreciated  here. 
They  submitted  to  untold  privations  and  suffer- 
ings and  exactions  in  patience  and  in  silence,  lest 
by  one  word  or  act  of  theirs  they  should  em- 
barrass their  leaders  in  Parliament  or  retard  by 
one  moment  the  concession  of  Home  Rule.  The 
landlords  of  Ireland  noted  but  totally  misunder- 
stood the  meaninof  of  the  chanofe  of  attitude. 
They  mistook  forbearance  and  patriotism  for  cow- 
ardice, and  the  crowbar  brigade  once  more  set 
to  work.  Still  the  tenants  suffered  in  silence. 
Mr.  Gladstone  proposed  a  land  bill  which  would 
have  bought  out  the  landlords  at  an  extravagantly 
high  figure,  yet  the  Irish  tenants  were  ready,  be- 
cause it  was  coupled  with  the  concession  of  Home 
Rule,  to  pay  this  exorbitant  sum  as  the  price 
to  be  paid  for  national  freedom.  But  all  motive 
for  forbearance  on  their  part  is  now  gone,  the 
sands  have  run  through  the  hour-glass,  and  the 
old  fight  between  landlord  and  tenant  must  revive 
if  the  people  are  not  to  be  swept  out  of  existence 
while  they  are  waiting  for  Home  Rule.  Once 
more  Irish  landlords  have  behaved  with  unaccount- 
able folly  and  stupidity.  They  have  once  more 
stood  between  Ireland  and  her  freedom,  and  have 
refused  even  an  extravagant  price  for  their  land, 
because  the  offer  was  coupled  with  the  concession, 


7G6  GLADSTONE— PARNELL.       , 

of  an  Irish  Parliament.  So  be  it ;  I  believe  the  last 
offer  has  been  made  to  Irish  landlordism.  The 
ultimate  settlement  of  this  question  must  now  be 
reserved  for  the  Parliament  of  Ireland,  and  mean- 
time the  people  must  take  care  to  protect  them- 
selves and  their  children.  In  many  parts  of  Ire- 
land, I  assert,  rent  is  to-day  an  impossibility,  and 
in  every  part  of  Ireland  the  rents  demanded  are 
exorbitant  and  will  not  and  can  not  be  paid. 
The  old  struggle  will  be  revived,  and  before  three 
months  are  over  the  new  government  will  be 
forced,  as  of  old,  in  defence  of  the  rents  of  the 
landlords,  to  attempt  to  forge  anew  the  fetters  of 
coercion.  The  process  will  not  be  an  easy  one, 
and,  even  if  successful,  we  have  no  reason  to  fear 
the  worst  they  can  do.  For  my  part,  indeed,  I 
think  it  but  right  and  fitting  that  so  long  as  Eng- 
lishmen rule  Ireland  they  should  be  forced  to  do 
so  by  coercion. 

"We  have  to-day  no  constitution,  and  it  is  well 
that  the  mask  of  constitutionalism  should  be 
torn  from  the  faces  of  our  rulers  and  the  fact 
made  patent  to  the  world.  In  this  coming 
struggle,  which  we  honestly  believe  will  be  the 
final  one,  before  victory,  we  claim  the  assistance 
of  our  fellow-countrymen  and  the  sympathy  of 
all  the  citizens  of  this  great  republic.  Gentlemen, 
I  have  now  done.  The  memory  of  this  day  will 
live  with  me  while  memory  lasts.  The  effects  of 
the  work   upon   which  you   have  been   engaged 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  767 

will,  I  believe,  live  and  be  felt  so  long  as  this 
struggle  continues.  Your  wisdom  will  guide  our 
policy,  your  courage  will  inspire  our  hearts,  your 
marvellous  union  will  excite  our  eiuulation.  You 
have  good  reason,  indeed,  to  be  proud  of  the 
proceedings  of  this  day.  You  are,  in  truth,  en- 
gaged in  a  noble  and  a  sacred  work — nothing 
less  than  championing  the  weak  against  the 
strong,  the  helpless  against  the  powerful,  the 
afflicted  against  the  prosperous.  You  have  long 
since  earned  for  yourselves  and  your  adopted 
country  the  blessings  of  the  poor,  and  rest 
assured,  when  at  last  victory  sits  upon  our  cause 
and  freedom  is  again  enthroned  in  Ireland,  you 
also  will  reap  a  reward ;  for  the  God  of  the  poor 
and  the  oppressed,  the  God  of  justice  and  of 
mercy,  will  also  increase  your  prosperity  and 
watch  eternally  over  your  liberties." 

The  convention  unanimously  adopted  the  re- 
port of  the  Committee  on  Constitution,  which 
was  practically  the  same  as  that  which  had 
been  adopted  at  the  Philadelphia  Convendon. 
Rev.  George  W.  Pepper,  a  Methodist  Episcopal 
clergyman  from  Ohio,  delivered  a  fiery  and  im- 
passioned speech,  at  the  conclusion  of  which  he 
said:  "When  Parnell  finds  that  he  cannot  win 
by  peaceful  methods,  and  cables  us  to  come  over 
and  help  him,  I  assure  you  that  there  will  be  one 
vacant  pulpit  in  the  United  States." 

There  was  a  hot  fight  and  an  exciting  oratorical 


768  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

wrangle  over  the  election  of  a  president  of  the 
national  organization.  President  Egan,  Alex- 
ander Sullivan,  of  Chicago,  T.  Brennan,  of  Ne- 
braska, Mr.  O'Connor,  of  Elmira,  N.  Y.,  Judge 
Donnelly,  of  Wisconsin,  and  others,  favored 
the  selection  of  John  Fitzgerald,  of  Lincoln, 
Nebraska,  while  John  Devoy,  of  New  York, 
Michael  J.  Ryan,  of  Philadelphia,  Dr.  William  B. 
Wallace,  of  New  York,  Fathers  James  A.  Bre- 
honey,  Thomas  Barry,  and  William  Meagher,  of 
Philadelphia,  and  others,  urged  the  wisdom  of 
making  Hugh  McCaffrey,  of  Philadelphia,  the 
choice  of  the  convention.  Mr.  McCaffrey,  twice 
emphatically  declined  to  be  a  candidate  and 
moved  to  make  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Fitzgerald 
unanimous.  This,  however,  his  supporters  would 
not  listen  to,  and  they  insisted  on  a  vote  being- 
taken.     The  following-  was  the  vote  in  detail : 

States  and  Provinces.  McCaffrey.        Fitzgerald. 

Vermont   I 

Florida I 

Minnesota 13 

Tennessee 2                   21 

Rhode  Island 8 

Wisconsin I                    57 

Kansas 4 

Illinois 2                   77 

Nebraska 13 

New  Jersey 18                     7 

Ohio 50 

Ontario 17 

Quebec 7 

Cnlifornia II 

Colorado 2 

Alabama 4 

Connecticut I                    10 

Delaware 4 

Georgia  lO 

Indiana 22 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  769 

States  and  Provinces.  McCaffrey.        Fitzgerald. 

Kentucky 14 

Maryland 17 

District  of  Columbia 15 

Montana 6 

Louisiana 73 

Texas 9 

Massachusetts 12                   32 

Michigan 70 

Missouri 28 

Iowa 17                   26 

Pennsylvania 107                   15 

New  York 80                  63 

Total 244  703 

On  the  motion  of  Mr.  McCaffrey  the  election 
of  Mr.  Fitzgerald  was  declared  unanimous.  The 
other  officers  elected  were  :  First  Vice-President, 
Hugh  McCaffrey,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.;  Second 
Vice-President,  Rev.  P.  A.  McKenna,  of  Boston, 
Mass. ;  Third  Vice-President,  Patrick  Martin,  of 
Baltimore,  Md. ;  Treasurer,  Rev.  Charles  O'Reilly, 
D.  D.,  Detroit,  Michigan;  Secretary.  John  B. 
Sutton,  Lincoln,  Nebraska. 

Chairman  Fitzgerald  here  introduced  John 
Deasy,  M.  P.,  who  received  a  hearty  welcome 
from  the  delegates.  His  address,  like  that  of  Mr. 
Redmond,  was  liberally  punctuated  with  the 
applause  of  his  hearers.     At  its  close  he  said: 

"  We  have  had  coercion  in  Ireland  every  year 
for  the  last  eighty-six  years.  We  find  now  that 
two  can  play  at  that  game.  We  defy  them  with 
all  their  brute  force,  with  all  their  police  spies  and 
informers,  to  get  the  better  of  us  in  the  future 
if  they  attempt  oppression  again.  We  do  not 
care  a  jot  what  laws  are  passed  to  crush  the  Irish 


770  GLADSTONE—PARNELL. 

people.  We  know  from  past  experience  that  our 
organization  is  superior  to  any  effort  of  the  Eng- 
Hsh  Government  to  destroy  it.  We  know  that 
to  espouse  the  Irish  cause  in  Ireland  is  to  run  the 
risk  of  imprisonment,  and  perhaps  the  gallows. 
We  know  that  the  men  whose  names  I  see  before 
me  (Allen,  Larkin  and  O'Brien)  were  foully  and 
brutally  murdered  for  espousing  the  same  cause 
we  advocate — and  we  tell  the  British  Government 
that  there  are  thousands  of  men  in  Ireland  pre- 
pared to  follow  in  their  footsteps." 

Michael  Davitt,  in  summing  up  the  results  of 
the  convention  said  :  "  I  can't,  however,  deny  my- 
self the  pleasure  of  saying  that  I  began  my 
part  of  the  work  leading  up  to  this  convention  by 
predicting  confidently  what  the  result  would  be. 
I  have  said  thata  division  in  this  convention  would 
be  impossible,  because  the  enemies  of  Ireland 
looked  for  it.  I  read  the  other  day  that  Mr. 
Finerty  and  myself  were  at  the  head  of  opposing 
factions,  and  one  of  the  keenest  pleasures  of  my 
life  has  been  to  witness  the  disappointment  of 
the  enemies  of  Ireland  who  have  made  this  and 
kindred  false  statements.  Mr.  Finerty  and  myself 
have,  in  the  most  friendly  way  possible,  crossed 
swords ;  but  I  don't  know  an  honester  man  than 
Mr.  Finerty,  nor  a  more  sincere  friend  to  Ireland, 
either  at  home  or  in  America.  We  are  not  here 
to  dictate  to  any  one,  but  to  explain  to  you  our 
policy,  and  to  ask  our  friends  to  believe  in  our 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  77I 

sincerity  and  fidelity.  I  have  to  thank  the  late 
administration,  Mr.  Egan's,  on  behalf  of  Ireland 
and  the  Parliamentary  party,  for  its  service  to  the 
Irish  cause.  By  your  moderation  you  will  appeal 
strongly  to  that  American  sympathy  which  has 
been  such  a  help  to  us  at  home.  Trust  in  us  to 
do  the  best  thing  in  any  circumstances  to  keep  the 
flag  flying.  We  are  bound  to  win,  for  we  have 
one  cause,  one  movement,  one  means,  one  hope 
and  one  leader.  Thus  united,  defeat  is  impos- 
sible." 

The  following  were  appointed  as  the  State 
Delegates  or  National  Executive  Committee  : 

Alabama,  Rev.  Edward  Kerwin ;  California, 
Dr.  M.  C.  O'Toole;  Connecticut,  P.  W.  Wren; 
Colorado,  Robert  Morris ;  Louisiana,  Timothy 
Maroney  ;  Indiana,  Michael  J.  Burns  ;  Nebraska, 
Patrick  Egan  ;  Georgia,  John  F.  Armstrong ; 
Rhode  Island,  Hugh  J.  Carroll;  Iowa,  D.  Maher  ; 
Virginia,  R,  F.  O'Beirne;  District  of  Columbia, 
Thomas  H.  Walsh;  Kentucky,  Matthew  O'Do- 
herty ;  Delaware,  O.  J.  Hession ;  New  Jersey, 
Michael  B,  Holmes;  Kansas,  Donat  O'Brien; 
Michigan,  Dr.  J.  E,  Scallon;  Texas,  A.  J.  Malloy ; 
Wisconsin,  James  G.  Donnelly;  Maryland,  John 
Norman  ;  Missouri,  Dr.  Thomas  O'Reillv  ;  Massa- 
chusetts,  J.  J.  Donovan;  Minnesota,  W.  L.  Kelly; 
Montana,  D.  J.  Hennessey  ;  Pennsylvania,  Michael 
J.  Ryan;  Ohio,  W.  J.  Gleason ;  New  York,  Dr. 
Edward  Malone  ;  Illinois,  Daniel  Corkery ;  Ontario, 


772  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

R.  B.  Teefy;  Florida,  B.  E.  McMurry;  Mississippi, 
Edward  McGinty;  New  Hampshire,  James  Cash- 
man  ;  Oregon  Territory,  M.  J.  Griffin  ;  Tennessee, 
P.  J.  Flanigan  ;  Vermont,  B.  F.  Kelly;  Washington 
Territory,  W.  D.O'Toole;  Quebec,  Canada,  Charles 
McCarron ;  Manitoba,  Canada,  H.  J.  Clorane. 

John  E.  Fitzgerald,  the  newly-elected  Presi- 
dent of  the  Irish  National  League  of  America, 
was  born  in  County  Limerick,  Ireland,  in  the  year 
1829,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen  years  emigrated  to 
the  United  States.  Soon  after  his  arrival  he  se- 
cured employment  on  a  farm  on  Long  Island, 
where  he  remained  for  several  seasons,  for  the 
sum  of  seven  dollars  per  month.  He  had  within 
him,  however,  those  principles  of  endurance,  fru- 
gality, and  industry  which  pointed  to  a  brighter 
future,  and  having  saved  sufficient  money  to  go  to 
the  West,  he  cast  his  lot,  in  1869,  in  Lincoln, 
Nebraska,  where  he  has  since  risen  to  be  one 
of  the  most  honored,  as  well  as  one  of  the  most 
wealthy  men  in  that  State.  He  is  the  President  of 
the  First  National  Bank  of  Lincoln,  of  the  First 
National  Bank  of  Plattsmouth,  of  the  First 
National  Bank  of  Greenwood,  and  of  the  First 
National  Bank  of  O'Neill  City.  Besides  his 
many  financial  interests,  Mr.  Fitzgerald  owns  the 
Waveland  stock  farm  at  Lincoln,  comprising  nine 
thousand  acres  of  land,  stocked  with  shorthorn 
cattle  and  blooded  horses.  He  is  also  the  Presi- 
dent   of    the    Nebraska    stockyards   at  Lincoln, 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  773 

besides  being  largely  concerned  in  railroad  enter- 
prises. He  built  the  Burlington  and  Missouri 
River  route  from  Plattsmouth  west,  and  is  the 
owner  of  the  extension  of  railroad  from  Denver, 
Colorado,  to  Baxter  Springs,  Kansas,  now  in  pro- 
cess of  construction.  His  is  a  very  busy  life,  and 
he  has  constantly  in  his  employ  from  two  thous- 
and to  four  thousand  men.  Mr.  Fitzgerald  owes 
his  wealth  to  a  spirit  of  industry.  Some  idea  may 
be  had  of  the  extent  of  his  fortune  when  it  is 
stated  that  his  assessment  list  in  Plattsmouth  alone 
amounts  to  ^160,000.  Notwithstanding  his  large 
property  interests  he  is  one  of  the  most  modest 
of  men  and  has  a  particular  aversion  to  newspa- 
per notoriety.  Surrounded  by  so  many  interests 
to  engage  his  attention,  yet  he  has  not  forgotten 
the  land  of  his  nativity  and  has  always  shown  an 
earnest  zeal  for  the  cause  of  Ireland  and  his 
fellow-countrymen.  It  was,  therefore,  a  merited 
compliment  in  elecdng  him  to  the  presidency  of 
the  National  League. 

John  P.  Sutton,  the  Secretary  of  the  Irish 
Nadonal  League  of  America,  was  born  in  Clon- 
mel,  Ireland,  in  1845,  about  the  dme  of  the  pota- 
to-rot, a  visitadon  which  caused  the  gaunt  features 
of  famine  to  spread  throughout  the  land.  His 
parents  were  Michael  Sutton  and  Mary  Ann 
O'Shaughnessy.  His  father  was,  for  many  years, 
a  grain  merchant  in  Waterford,  but  emigrated  to 
Quebec,  Canada,  where  he  filled  a  position  in  the 


774  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Union  Bank.  His  son,  John  P.  Sutton,  arrived  in 
this  country  a  short  time  afterwards  and  entered 
the  United  States  Army,  serving  for  some  time  on 
the  western  frontier.  After  acting  as  Sergeant- 
Major  of  the  i8th  U.  S.  Infantry,  he  became  First 
Sergeant  of  Company  H  of  the  same  regiment, 
and  served  in  that  capacity  until  he  was  honorably 
discharged  at  the  end  of  his  term  of  enlistment. 
In  1869  he  went  to  Quebec  to  visit  his  family,  and 
shortly  afterward  married  and  settled  in  Canada, 
where  he  resided  for  about  sixteen  years.  While 
there  he  served  in  various  positions  of  trust  and 
honor,  and  during  the  last  four  years  of  his  resi- 
dence in  the  Dominion  he  was  eno-agjed  as  an 
accountant  for  Messrs,  Ross  &  Co.,  the  wealthiest 
mercantile  firm  in  the  Province  of  Quebec. 
While  a  resident  of  Canada  he  took  an  active 
part  in  Irish  National  affairs,  and  was  a  frequent 
contributor  to  the  Irish  Sentinel,  of  Quebec,  the 
IHsh  Canadian,  of  Toronto,  and  the  Daily  Post, 
of  Montreal,  besides  working  for  the  cause  in 
other  ways.  He  was  the  first  President  of  the 
Quebec  Branch  of  the  Irish  National  League  of 
America,  and  retained  that  position  as  long  as  he 
remained  a  resident  of  the  country.  He  was  also 
among  those  who  inaugurated  the  custom  of  cele- 
brating Emmet's  Day  in  Quebec,  a  celebration 
which  continues  to  be  a  national  festival  there. 
To  his  efforts,  in  a  great  measure,  was  due  the 
inspiration  and  enthusiasm  which  took  the  place 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  775 

of  the  lethargy  which,  for  a  time,  appeared  to  per- 
vade the  Irish  people  in  Canada  in  regard  to  the 
cause  of  the  Nationalists.  He  was  requested  by 
the  Executive  of  the  National  League  to  travel 
through  the  Dominion  and  organize  branches  of 
the  League,  and,  at  the  same  time,  start 
collections  for  the  Parliamentary  Fund.  He 
addressed  public  meetings  at  Toronto,  Hamilton, 
and  Ottawa,  in  Ontario,  and  Halifax  in  Nova 
Scotia,  besides  addressing  private  meetings  of 
Irishmen  in  other  towns,  going  as  far  as  St.  John's, 
New  Brunswick,  and  Portland,  Maine.  The  suc- 
cess attending  his  labors  everywhere  proved  the 
wisdom  of  sendino-  a  messenger  to  the  Canadian 
brethren,  and  showed  that  Mr.  Sutton  was  the 
man  above  all  others  for  the  mission.  While  at 
the  Boston  Convention  of  the  Land  League,  Can- 
ada had  about  five  delegates  with  a  financial  rep- 
resentation of  under  four  hundred  dollars,  and 
that  mainly  contributed  by  the  Quebec  branches ; 
yet,  at  the  Chicago  Convention,  the  Canadian  del- 
egates numbered  twenty-five,  and  their  contribu- 
tions reached  nearly  eight  thousand  dollars. 
Besides  this  amount  a  laro^e  share  of  Canadian 
contributions  were  sent  direct  to  Ireland.  This 
was  a  grand  commentary  on  the  work  accom- 
plished by  Mr.  Sutton.  The  Toronto  Branch  of 
the  League,  founded  by  him,  in  point  of  efficiency, 
is  second  to  none  in  America,  and,  if  its  uncon- 
genial surroundings  are  taken  into  consideration, 


776  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

it  might  reasonably  claim  first  place.  It  raised 
three  thousand  dollars  in  funds,  and  successfully 
dispelled  the  prejudice  and  ill-will  which  strove  to 
crush  its  infancy. 

On  the  resignation  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
National  League,  he  accepted  the  position  and 
filled  its  duties  until  May,  1886,  when  he  pracd- 
cally  resigned  (although  nominally  considered  as 
Secretary)  to  assume  the  posidon  of  cashier  of 
the  Fitzgerald  and  Mallory  Construction  Com- 
pany, and  paymaster  of  the  Denver,  Memphis 
and  Atlantic  Railroad  Company.  This  necessi- 
tated his  removal  to  south-eastern  Kansas. 
He  had  no  expectation  of  again  assuming  the 
secretaryship  of  the  Irish  National  League,  but 
at  the  request  of  President  John  Fitzgerald, 
supplemented  by  the  persuasion  of  many  promi- 
nent friends,  he  consented  to  a  re-election.  As  a 
consequence  he  resigned  his  position  with  the 
Construcdon  Company  and  Railway  Company, 
in  order  that  he  might  give  his  whole  attention 
to  the  work  of  the  League. 

While  in  Canada,  Mr.  Sutton,  as  already 
intimated,  labored  hard  for  the  success  of  the 
Irish  Cause:  The  h-ish  Canadimi  of  Aug.  23, 
1885,  i^  referring  to  the  selection  of  Mr.  Sutton 
as  the  organizer  of  the  League  in  Canada,  says : 
"The  convention  made  a  happy  choice  in  select- 
ing Mr.  Sutton  for  this  work.  He  is  able, 
eloquent  and  fearless,  true  as  steel,  and  admirably 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  777 

adapted  for  the  labor  before  him — a  labor  of  love 
In  his  case — the  dream  of  his  life  and  his  highest 
earthly  aspiration.  In  the  long  range  of  our 
acquaintance — and  in  our  day  we  have  met  many 
of  the  most  devoted  of  Ireland's  sons — we  do  not 
remember  one  more  ardently  attached — one  who 
clung  more  tenaciously  to  the  varying  fortunes 
of  the  Old  Land^ — one  more  ready,  at  all  times 
and  under  all  circumstances,  to  defend  it  against 
wrong  and  uphold  its  honor,  than  John  P.  Sutton. 
This  true-hearted  Irishman  has  suffered  for  the 
faith  that  is  in  him — has  suffered  because  he  had 
the  courage  of  his  convictions — but  he  is  never- 
theless ready  to  make  himself  useful  where  he 
can  be  of  service.  His  brothers  at  Chicaofo  have 
honored  him  with  a  sacred  trust,  and  our  brothers 
in  Canada  should  give  effect  to  his  mission — which 
will  be  in  reality  giving  effect  to  the  efforts  of 
Mr.  Parnell  and  those  who  are  assisting  him  in 
the  struesfle  for  freedom." 

One  of  the  letters  read  at  the  convention  was 
from  the  Rev.  Patrick  Cronin,  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
the  well-known  editor  of  the  Catholic  Unio7i  and 
Times,  whose  active  participation  in  the  work  of 
the  Irish  National  Leaaue  has  made  his  name 
a  familiar  one  throughout  the  country.  He  was 
born,  March  i,  1837,  near  Adare,  County  Lim- 
erick, Ireland,  a  spot  rich  in  historic  ruins,  where 
Gerald  Griffin  spent  many  of  his  young  years  and 
wrote  some  of  his  beautiful  poems.     At  the  age 

46 


778  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

of  twelve  years  he  came  with  his  father  to  the 
United  States,  and  selecting  an  ecclesiastical  life, 
he  received  a  thorough  training.  His  classical 
studies  were  pursued  at  St.  Louis  University,  and 
his  theological  course  taken  at  Cape  Girardeau, 
Missouri.  In  the  old  cathedral  at  St.  Louis,  in 
December,  1862,  he  received  priestly  orders,  and 
was  assigned  to  the  Church  of  the  Annunciation, 
in  that  cit}^  as  an  assistant  to  the  Rev.  P.  J.  Ryan, 
now  Archbishop  of  Philadelphia.  His  next  pas- 
torate was  at  Hannibal,  Missouri,  where  he  re- 
mained for  four  years,  during  which  time  his 
ministrations  were  largely  attended,  and  he  gath- 
ered about  him  a  laro-e  circle  of  friends.  He  then 
returned  to  St.  Louis,  and  became  the  pastor  of 
the  Church  of  the  Immaculate  Conception.  He 
resigned  his  pastorate  in  St.  Louis  to  come  East 
in  1870,  and  took  the  Chair  of  Belles-Lettres  in 
the  Seminary  of  Our  Lady  of  Angels,  now  the 
literary  department  of  Niagara  University.  After 
remaining  in  that  position  for  two  years,  he  re- 
moved to  Buffalo,  New  York,  in  October,  1872, 
where  he  has  since  been  attached  to  St.  Joseph's 
Cathedral.  On  the  ist  of  April,  1873,  he  assumed 
the  editorial  charge  of  the  Catholic  Union  and 
Times,  which  was  then  in  its  infancy,  and  which 
was  then,  as  now,  the  official  journal  of  the  Bishop 
of  Buffalo.  From  that  time  forward  the  paper 
rapidly  increased  in  its  influence  for  good,  and  its 
trenchant  editorials  soon  gained  for  it  an  unusual 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE  779 

prominence  with  resultant  benefits.  This  brief 
allusion  to  the  various  positions  held  by  Father 
Cronin  does  not,  however,  convey  any  adequate 
idea  of  the  many  results  achieved  during  his  faith- 
ful and  active  life.  His  work  in  the  cause  of  Ire- 
land, aside  from  his  labors  in  other  directions,  has 
won  for  him  a  name  that  shall  be  handed  down 
with  honor  to  the  coming  generations.  His  love 
for  the  land  of  his  nativity,  and  his  sympathy  for 
his  afflicted  countrymen,  have  been  shown  in  un- 
numbered instances,  and  he  has  been  unceasing 
in  his  endeavors  to  lift  up  the  fallen  and  aid  the 
downtrodden  and  oppressed. 

It  is  not  alone  in  his  editorial  sphere  that  Father 
Cronin  has  shone.  His  musical  voice  has  been 
heard  many  times  on  the  lecture  platform,  and  his 
rhetorical  eloquence  has  often  held  an  audience 
almost  spellbound.  As  a  poet,  also,  he  has  a 
wide  reputation,  many  of  his  productions  winning 
high  praise.  In  1877  he  spent  six  months  abroad 
in  company  with  Bishop  Ryan,  and  the  rich  fields 
of  study,  offered  by  a  European  trip,  found  in 
him  a  ready  student.  Since  his  return  he  has 
been  at  the  helm  of  the  CatJiolic  Union  and  Times, 
and  with  voice  and  pen  has  been  doing  his  share 
in  furtherinor  the  interests  of  the  church  and  his 
countrymen. 

A  prominent  figure  at  all  the  conventions  in 
which  I  have  been  a  participant  was  John  Boyle 
O'Reilly,  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  the  orator, 


780  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

editor,  poet,  and  patriot.    He  is  still  in  the  prime  of 
a  vigorous  manhood  and  has  had  a  most  eventful 
life.     He   was    born    in    Dowth    Castle,   County 
Meath,  Ireland,  in   1844,  and  spent  his  boyhood 
days  there,  studying  from  books  with  his  father 
and  mother.     From  their  store  of  leofends  and 
songs,  and  from  them,  he  first  learned  to  love 
Ireland,   a  love  that  has  grown  brighter  as  the 
years  have  rolled  along.     When  still  quite  young 
he  went  to  England  and  obtained  a  position  as 
reporter  on  the  newspapers  in  the  manufacturing 
districts,  where  he  acquired  that  intimate  knowl- 
edge   of  workingmen    and   that   sympathy  with 
them  which  still  clings  to  him,  and  is  only  less 
strong    than    his    national   enthusiasm.     But  his 
native    land    was   still    first  in   his  heart,  and  in 
1S63,  when  nineteen  years  old,  well  educated  and 
v/ith  an  ardent  temperament,  he  devoted  himself 
entirely   to  his  country's  service  by  enlisting  in 
the  Tenth  (Prince  of  Wales)  Hussars,  Col.  Valen- 
tine Baker's  crack  regiment.     His  purpose,  how- 
ever, was  not  to  fight  for  England,  but  for  Ireland, 
by  propagating  the  principles  of  Fenianism.     At 
that  time,  whenever  half  a  dozen  Irishmen  were 
gathered  together,  one  of  them,  at  least,  was  sure 
to  be  a  Fenian  or  Irish  Republican,  pledged  to 
secure   liberty    for   his    country;    and  so    young 
O'Reilly  had  many  opportunities,  which  he  never 
failed  to  improve,  of  rekindling  the  latent  spark 
which  lingered  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen. 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  781 

So  well  did  he  inspire  the  thr(5bbing  for  liberty 
that  the  time  soon  came  when  it  seemed  as  if 
the  blow  might  be  struck,  and  Ireland  might  be 
free.  But,  as  has  happened  scores  of  times  be- 
fore In  her  history,  the  plot  for  the  deliverance  of 
Ireland  was  betrayed  by  a  spy,  and  the  men  who 
would  have  broken  her  chains  were  arrested  for 
high  treason,  and  thrown  into  prison.  This  was 
in  1866,  and  for  days  all  Ireland  was  in  a  state  of 
terror,  as  warrant  after  warrant  was  served,  and 
cell  after  cell  filled  with  her  patriotic  sons.  Mr. 
O'Reilly,  of  course,  was  one  of  the  first  to  be 
taken,,  and  then  came  the  trials  and  sentences, 
and  he  found  himself  doomed  to  imprisonment 
for  life,  a  dark  and  dreary  prospect  to  most  menj 
but  not  to  one  who  believed  that  he  was  to  suffer 
for  his  native  land.  The  punishment,  however, 
was  afterwards  commuted  to  a  penal  servitude 
of  twenty  years,  although  such  a  change  could 
hardly  be  called  a  merciful  one.  After  his  arrest 
and  conviction,  Colonel  Baker,  who  commanded 
the  Tenth  Hussars,  exclaimed,  "O'Reilly  has 
ruined  the  best  regiment  in  the  British  army." 

The  young  patriot  received  his  punishment,  if 
it  could  be  called  such,  without  flinching,  and  as 
England's  prisons  were  crowded  that  year,  he 
was  successively  an  inmate  of  Chatham,  Ports- 
mouth, Portland  and  Dartmoor.  At  the  latter 
place  he  and  his  brother  Republicans  had  the 
sad  pleasure  of  performing  the  last  offices   for 


782  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

the  American  prisoners  of  war  who  were  shot  in 
cold  blood,  in  1814,  by  their  British  guards.  The 
bodies  of  the  slain  had  been  flung  into  shallow 
graves,  and  when  O'Reilly  and  his  comrades 
were  in  the  prison  the  bones  of  the  Americans 
lay  bleaching  on  the  ground  in  one  of  the  prison 
yards,  having  been  dragged  from  their  resting- 
place  by  swine.  The  Irish  Republicans  collected 
the  bones  and  buried  them,  and  upon  the  rude 
stone,  with  ]kvhich  they  were  allowed  to  mark  the 
grave,  they  carved  the  inscription :  ''Dulce  et  de- 
corum est  pro  patria  morir 

In  1867  Mr.  O'Reilly  and  his  compatriots  were 
banished  to  Western  Australia,  "a  land  blessed 
by  God  and  blighted  by  man,"  as  Mr.  O'Reilly 
says,  but  he  learned  to  love  "that  fair  land  and 
dear  land  in  the  south,''  with  its  soft  climate,  and 
strange  scentless  flowers  and  bright  songless  birds. 
But  his  experience  on  board  a  convict-ship,  as  re- 
lated by  himself  in  a  sketch  written  on  his  ar- 
rival in  America,  in  1869,  will,  perhaps,  give  a 
more  vivid  idea  of  the  sufferings  of  himself  and 
his  companions.  "In  October,  '^'j^'  says  Mr. 
O'Reilly,  "there  were  in  DartmX)or  prison  six 
convicts  who,  to  judge  from  their  treatment,  must 
be  infinitely  darker  criminals  than  even  the  mur- 
derous-looking wretches  around  them.  Those 
men  were  distinguished  by  being  allotted  an  extra 
amount  of  work,  hunger,  cold  and  curses,  together 
with  the  thousand  bitter  aids  that  are  brought  to 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  783 

bear  in  the  enforcement  of  English  prison  dis- 
cipline. At  the  time  I  now  recall,  three  of  those 
men  were  down  in  the  social  depths,  indeed ;  with 
one  exception,  they  were  in  prison  for  life;  and 
even  in  prison  were  considered  as  the  most  guilty 
and  degraded  there.  This  unusually  harsh  course 
was  the  result  of  a  dream  they  had  been  dream- 
ing for  years — as  they  wheeled  the  heavy  brick 
cars,  as  they  hewed  the  frozen  granite,  as  they 
breathed  on  their  cold  fingers  in  the  dark  penal 
cells,  in  the  deep  swamp-drain,  awake  and  asleep 
— always  dreaming  of  liberty!  That  thought  had 
never  left  them.  They  had  attempted  to  realize 
it,  and  had  failed.  But  the  wild,  stealthy  thought 
would  come  back  into  their  hearts  and  be  cher- 
ished there.  This  was  the  result — hunger,  cold 
and  curses.  The  excitement  was  dead.  There 
was  nothing  left  now  but  patience  and  submission. 
I  have  said  that  the  excitement,  even  of  failure, 
was  dead;  but  another  and  stronger  excitement 
took  its  place.  A  rumor  went  through  the  prison 
— in  the  weirdly  mysterious  way  in  which  rumors 
do  go  through  a  prison.  However  it  came  is  a 
mystery,  but  there  did  come  a  rumor  to  the  prison 
— even  to  the  dark  cells — of  a  ship  sailing  for 
Australia." 

The  departure  of  the  ship  from  English  shores 
for  the  penal  colony  in  Australia  is  related  by 
Mr.  O'Reilly  in  graphic  style.  The  political 
prisoners  were  separated,  and  he  was  among  the 


784  GLADSTONE— PARN  ELL. 

former.  "I  was  appointed  monitor  of  our  me;n," 
says  John  Boyle,  "which  appointment  gave  rise 
to  Dan  Bradley's  grand  prize  conundrum,  'Why 
must  we  look  to  O'Reilly  for  our  deliverance  ? 
Because  he  is  a  Fenian  monitor ! '  " 

After  being  two  weeks  out,  a  meeting  was 
called,  many  projects  discussed  and  three  things 
decided  on.  The  pious  and  patriotic  project  re- 
solved upon  was  that  a  prayer  should  be  offered 
each  night  for  Ireland,  and  this  prayer,  as  Mr. 
O'Reilly  now  recalls,  was  as  follows : 

"  O  God,  who  art  the  arbiter  of  the  destiny  of 
nations,  and  who  rulest  the  world  in  Thy  great 
wisdom,  look  down  now,  we  beseech  Thee,  from 
Thy  holy  place,  on  the  sufferings  of  our  poor 
country.  Scatter  her  enemies,  O  Lord,  and  con- 
found their  evil  projects.  Hear  us,  O  God  !  hear 
the  earnest  cry  of  our  people,  and  give  them 
strength  and  fortitude  to  dare  and  suffer  in  their 
holy  cause.  Send  her  help,  O  Lord !  from  Thy 
holy  place.     And  from  Zionprotect her.     Amen." 

Amid  all  the  gloom  of  the  convict-ship,  Mr. 
O'Reilly  continued  to  cheer  his  comrades  with 
hope,  and  the  genius  of  the  gifted  young  poet 
and  journalist  flashed  forth  every  week  in  the 
columns  of  the  Wild  Goose,  a  newspaper  which 
he  edited  for  the  benefit  of  nis  fellow-convicts. 
"Saturday,"  he  says,  ■' was  publishing  day.  On 
Sunday  afternoon  we  remained  below,  sat  around 
the  berths,  and  heard  read  the    Wild  Goose,  as 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  735 

the  newspaper  was  named.  We  published  seven 
weekly  numbers  of  it.  Amid  the  glim  glare  of 
the  lamp  the  men  at  night  would  group  strangely 
on  extemporized  seats.  The  yellow  light  fell 
down  on  thegroupofdark  forms,  throwinga  ghastly 
glare  on  the  pale  faces  of  the  men  as  they  listened 
with  blazing  eyes  to  Davis'  '  Fontenoy,'  or  the 
'Clansman's  Wild  Address  to  Shane's  Head.' 
Ah !  that  is  another  of  the  grand  picture- 
memories  that  come  only  to  those  who  deal  with 
life's  stern  realities." 

The  story  of  his  escape  from  Australia  affords 
another  interesting  chapter  in  Mr.  O'Reilly's 
eventful  life.  He  was  not  content  to  stay  in 
captivity  while  the  spirit  of  liberty  burned  within, 
and  hence,  in  1869,  aided  by  friends,  and  after 
encountering  many  hardships  he  escaped  from 
Australia,  and  after  a  series  of  adventures  reached 
Philadelphia.  For  some  time  he  kept  the  story 
to  himself,  fearing  to  implicate  those  who  aided 
him,  but  at  last  he  told  all  about  his  escape. 
Making  off  in  the  night,  he  started  across  the 
Indian  Ocean  in  an  open  boat  without  food  or 
drink,  and  for  three  days  and  nights,  had  not 
only  to  fight  hunger  and  thirst,  but  the  sharks 
that  chareed  on  his  frail  craft.  Twice,  when  at 
sea,  ships  bore  down  upon  him  and  then  sailed 
away  again,  unmindful  of  his  signals.  All  this 
time  keen-scented  men  were  on  his  track  and 
an    escaped    felon    of  the   lowest   type   was   his 


786  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

companion,  declaring  that,  unless,  he,  too,  was 
taken  along  he  would  expose  O'Reilly's  plan  of 
escape.  At  last  both  men  were  taken  aboard  the 
American  whaler  "  Gazelle,"  of  New  Bedford, 
under  the  command  of  Captain  David  R.  Gifford. 
At  the  Cape,  South  Africa,  O'Reilly's  surrender 
was  demanded  by  a  British  sea-captain,  but  his 
Yankee  friend,  the  captain  of  the  whaler,  hid  him 
in  his  cabin  ;  and  then  throwing  a  grindstone  and 
O'Reilly's  hat  overboard,  he  swore  that  the  Irish 
rebel  had  jumped  into  the  sea  and  committed 
suicide.  The  British  officers  on  the  search 
having  heard  the  splash,  believed  the  story,  and 
Captain  Gifford,  lending  him  twenty  guineas,  all 
the  money  he  had,  put  him  on  the  American  ship 
"  Sapphire,"  of  Boston,  bound  for  Liverpool, 
giving  him  the  papers  of  a  shipwrecked  sailor. 
In  September,  O'Reilly  landed  in  Liverpool,  but 
soon  found  himself  in  danger  and  sailed  for 
Philadelphia.  Shortly  after  his  arrival  in  the 
United  States  he  earned  money  enough  to  repay 
the  captain  of  the  whaler,  and  to  him  dedicated 
his  first  volume  of  "Soncjs  from  the  Southern 
Seas,"  but  a  copy  of  the  volume  sent  to  that  hu- 
mane and  grallant  seaman  arrived  two  hours  after 
the  latter  had  died,  in  the  West  India  Islands,  from 
yellow  fever.  On  learning  this  Mr.  O'Reilly 
wrote  a  graceful  and  poetic  ardcle  on  the  captain, 
entitled ;  "A  tribute  paid  too  late." 

On  his  arrival  in  Philadelphia  he  started  at  once 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  787 

for  New  York,  where  he  made  some  money  in 
writing  poems  and  magazine  articles  :  for  such 
a  gifted  mind  as  that  possessed  by  Mr.  O'Reilly 
could  not  long  remain  inactive,  and  his  brilliant 
contributions  and  poetical  writings  won  for  him 
prompt  and  flattering  recognition,  and  he  soon 
took  rank  among  the  men  of  letters.  He  went  to 
Boston  in  1870  and  naturally  found  his  way  to  the 
newspaper  office,  and  soon  had  a  position  on  the 
Pilots  of  which  he  is  now  the  editor.  He  became 
a  naturalized  citizen  of  the  Republic,  his  country- 
men made  him  welcome  to  their  homes,  and,  in  a 
year  or  two,  he  found  himself  prosperous  and 
growing  famous.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Papyrus 
Club,  the  Press  Club,  and  several  other  literary 
organizations  of  Boston.  It  is,  however,  as  editor- 
in-chief  of  the  Boston  Pilot,  one  of  the  oldest  Irish 
Catholic  newspapers  in  the  country,  he  made  his 
fame  most  enduring,  and  his  conduct  of  that  paper 
since  the  wreck  of  Donahoe's  establishment  has 
been  alike  honorable  and  successful.  He  is  a 
contributor  to  the  pages  o^  i\\^  North  Ainej'ican 
Review,  the  Catholic  Quarterly  Review  and  other 
leading  magazines.  Amid  all  his  literary  labors 
he  is  still  the  devoted  patriot  and  finds  occasional 
time  to  eive  to  the  service  of  the  old  land.  In 
such  work  his  voice  is  no  less  effective  than  his 
pen — his  words  having  the  same  practical  incisive 
and  forcible  meaning.  In  his  views  of  the  Irish 
question  he  Is  inclined  to  be  conservative,  though 


788  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

very  positive  in  his  support  of  Parnell,  In  1885 
Mr.  O'Reilly  was  invited  to  Ottawa,  Canada,  to 
deliver  an  address  on  St.  Patrick's  Day.  The 
Dominion  authorities  saw  no  objection  ;  but  when 
application  was  made  to  England  for  an  authori- 
zation for  Mr.  O'Reilly  to  enter  the  British 
Dominions,  Earl  Granville,  on  consultation  with 
Sir  W.  Harcourt,  declared  British  territory  closed 
against  "  O'Reilly,  one  of  the  persons  convicted 
for  complicity  in  the  Fenian  Rebellion  of  1866." 
It  is  a  fact  that  the  cultured  Boston  poet  is  down 
on  the  British  records  as  an  escaped  convict,  No. 

9.834. 

In  regard  to  his  many  noble  efforts  in  further- 
ing the  cause  of  Irish  liberty  it  is  hardly  necessary 
to  refer.  He  has  lectured  in  all  the  principal 
cities  of  the  country  in  aid  of  the  Irish  Parlia- 
mentary Fund ;  and  has  made  a  large  number 
of  addresses  under  the  auspices  of  the  Irish 
National  League.  In  fact,  working  in  season  and 
out  of  season,  in  order  that  the  glorious  time  may 
be  consummated  when  Ireland  shall  take  her 
place  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

Mr.  O'Reilly  is  very  popular  in  social  circles 
in  Boston.  He  is  a  fine  athlete,  and  a  man  of 
striking  personal  appearance,  still  upon  the  sunny 
side  of  forty,  and  as  strong  In  body  as  he  is  gifted 
in  mind.  He  is  noted  for  his  soldierly  bearing, 
and  it  is  natural  enough  that  his  step  should 
be  soldierly ;  for  it  is  not  many  years  since  the 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  789 

fingers  that  now  hold  his  pen  were  familiar  with 
the  sabre  hilt,  and  since  the  feet  that  now  trfead 
the  quiet  streets  of  Boston  obeyed  the  call  of  the 
bugle  in  an  English  barrack.  Change  of  fortune 
has'  not  altered  him  much  in  manner,  and  seems 
to  have  made  little  difference  in  his  disposition. 
He  still  sits  silent  in  company,  immovable  except 
as  to  his  restless  dark  eyes,  until  somebody  asks 
him  a  question ;  but  then  the  heavy  brows  are 
lifted,  the  head  is  raised,  and  the  answer  comes 
usually  in  the  Milesian  form  of  another  question, 
sometimes  paradoxical,  sometimes  a  little  dog- 
matic, but  always  striking.  While,  as  stated,  he  is 
a  firm  believer  in  Parnell  and  his  methods,  there 
is  something  more  in  his  ardent  nature;  he  is 
every  inch  a  patriot,  and  does  not  hesitate  to  ex- 
press his  views  of  English  misrule  in  plain  terms 
that  cannot  admit  of  any  possible  misconstruction. 
He  scorns  to  beg  amnesty  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment, for  when  that  subject  was  recently  broached 
by  some  of  his  admirers  in  the  old  land,  he 
very  promptly  cabled  to  them  the  instructions : 
"  Kindly  withdraw  the  name  of  O'Reilly."  He  is 
a  credit  to  his  race,  an  honor  to  his  country,  an 
ornament  to  journalism — possessed  of  indomitable 
will,  pluck  and  energy,  and  what  is  a  proud  tribute 
to  his  noble  character  and  genius  is,  that  in  Bos- 
ton, where  he  still  lives,  no  name  stands  higher 
among  American  men  of  letters. 

It  would  be  almost  superfluous  to  refer  to  his 


790  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

many  literary  labors.  His  poem  on  the  Statue 
of  Liberty  has  been  so  widely  read  and  admired, 
together  with  his  other  works,  that  the  name  of 
John  Boyle  O'Reilly  has  become  familiar  from 
one  end  of  the  land  to  the  other.  A  gifted  and 
estimable  wife  is  the  companion  of  his  literary 
labors.     Of  hiis  country  he  sings: 

"  My  first  dear  love,  all  dearer  for  thy  grief! 

My  land  that  has  no  peer  in  all  the  sea 
For  verdure,  vale  or  river,  flower  or  leaf — 

If  first  to  no  man  else,  thou'rt  first  to  me. 
New  loves  may  come  with  duties,  but  the  first 

Is  deepest  yet — the  mother's  bieath  and  smiles; 
Like  that  kind  face  and  breast  where  I  was  nursed 

Is  my  poor  land — rthe  Niobe  of  Isles." 

"  Priests  who  could  furnish  the  surety  of  two 
freeholders  for  their  peaceful  conduct,"  writes 
Charles  Gavan  Duffy,  of  Ireland,  "The  House 
of  Hanover,"  "and  did  not  outrage  good-taste  by 
showing  themselves  in  public,  were  permitted  to 
perform  their  functions  in  by-streets  and  back 
places ;  provided  always  that  they  are  careful  to 
ring  no  bell  and  erect  no  steeple,  these  indul- 
gences being  absolutely  incompatible  with  the 
safety  of  church  and  throne."  There  is  a  fine 
church  going  up  in  Chicago,  Saint  Gabriel's,  whose 
steeple  will  be  built  and  whose  bell  will  be  rung 
for  one  of  the  truest  sons  of  Ireland  in  America, 
one  whose  name,  face  and  voice  are  familiar  in 
the  land  of  his  fathers  as  well  as  in  that  of  his 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  791 

birth.     Maurice   J.    Dorney  would  have   found 
even  the  moderate  irksomeness  of  the  toleration 
of  the   House  of  Hanover  intolerable,  and  the 
more  rigorous  days  of  an  Elizabeth  or  a  William 
would  have  made  his  another  name  on  the  glorious 
roll  of  Irish  martyrdom.     He  v^as  born  in  Spring- 
field, Massachusetts,  in  1 85 1 .     His  acute  mind  and 
decided  traits  of  character  marked  him  for  the 
priesthood,  and  after  graduation  at  St.   Mary's 
Seminary,  Baltimore,  he  was  ordained  priest  by 
Bishop  Foley  in  the  cathedral  of  Chicago  in  1874. 
For  two  years  his  zeal  was  devoted  to  Saint  John's 
parish  in  that  city,  and  then  he  was  sent  to  Lock- 
port,   Illinois,  as   parish   priest,   remaining  there 
until  1880,  when  the  needs  of  the  new  population 
in    the   south-v*restern    part   of  Chicago   induced 
Archbishop  Feehan  to  recall  him  for  city  work. 
Under  his  guidance  his  people  are  erecting  the 
edifice  whose  bell  and  steeple  will  be  a  striking 
feature  of  that  bustling  region  ;  and  the  commo- 
dious school-house  that    rises    near    the    church 
indicates  that  Father  Dorney  is  as  interested  in 
the  intellects  of  his  flock  as  in  their  spiritual  w^el- 
fare.     The  studies  which  a  thoroughly  practical 
priest  must   make  in   the  poverty  that  fills  our 
o-reat  cities  are  well  calculated  to  make  him  in- 
quire   into  the   causes   which   have   sent   to    our 
country    so    much    of  poverty  among  a    people 
naturally  virtuous  and  universally  hard-working. 
Of  all  men  in  the  United  States  who  should  be 


792  GLADSTONE— PAFLNELL. 

sympathizers  with  the  divinely  planted  instincts 
of  liberty  in  a  race,  the  priest  has  the  best  oppor- 
tunity for  knowing  that  it  is  English  government 
in  Ireland  that  has  sown  poverty  over  that  fertile 
land,  and  that  it  was  brutal  laws,  ingeniously 
devised,  that  prostrated  those  natural  industries 
whose  destruction  is  the  chief  cause  of  the  Irish 
want  of  mechanical  skill.  It  was  inevitable  that 
a  man  of  Father  Dorney's  mind  and  sympathy 
should  not  only  perceive  the  economic  truth  at 
the  bottom  of  all  Irish  misery,  but  that  he  should 
strive  to  aid  the  race  from  which  he  sprang  to 
efface  the  inheritance  of  misery  English  govern- 
ment has  bestowed  upon  so  many  generations  of 
the  Irish  people.  Father  Dorney's  services  to  the 
Irish  cause,  modest;  unwearying  and  effective,  led 
to  his  election  as  President  of  the  Land  League 
in  Illinois,  in  1881.  When  it  was  found  that  he 
had  been  chosen  a  delegate  to  the  Philadelphia 
Convention  of  1883,  there  was  a  general  desire 
that  his  genial  countenance,  sonot'ous  voice,  happy 
humor  and  trained  faculties  should  be  employed 
in  the  chair  of  that  imposing  and  difficult  assem- 
bly. No  one  who  saw  him  in  that  position 
will  ever  forget  the  skill  and  tact  with  which  du- 
ties exceedingly  delicate  were  discharged.  He 
had  to  guide  that  vast  body  through  the  most 
dangerous  passages  in  its  course;  and  a  steadier 
hand  or  clearer  head  never  held  a  helm  through 
deeps  or  shallows.     When  he  visited  Ireland  two 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  793 

years  ago,  he  received  everywhere  the  cordial  and 
grateful  greeting  to  which  he  was  so  well  entitled. 

Bright  as  a  newly  coined  dollar,  honest  and 
fearless  in  his  outspoken  exposure  of  frauds,  how- 
ever great,  or  of  parasites,  however  loathsome  and 
despicable,  a  young  man  with  a  future  before  him, 
and  one  who  has  already  held  positions  of  honor 
and  grave  responsibility  in  Irish  organizations,  is 
Michael  J.  Ryan,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.  He  was 
born  In  that  city  on  the  13th  of  June,  1862.  His 
father,  James  Ryan,  who  died  in  1878,  was  one 
of  the  leaders  of  the  Fenian  Brotherhood,  and  a 
centre  of  the  Philadelphia,  Brian  Boru,  and  Grat- 
tan  Circles.  His  son,  imbued  with  the  same  pa- 
triotic feelings,  early  evinced  a  love  for  Ireland 
and  her  institutions,  and  in  September,  October 
and  November,  1885,  he  travelled  through  the 
Western  and  Southern  States,  lecturing  In  aid  of 
the  National  League,  going  as  far  as  Minneapolis 
in  the  North-west,  and  In  the  South-west  travel- 
ling as  far  as  San  Antonio,  Texas.  At  the  Chicago 
Convention  he  was  unanimously  chosen  as  Chair- 
man of  the  Pennsylvania  delegation,  and  was  also 
selected  as  the  State  Delegate,  one  of  the  best 
evidences  of  the  respect  in  which  he  is  held  among 
those  with  whom  he  lives. 

When  a  meeting  of  citizens  was  called  in  Inde- 
pendence Hall,  Philadelphia,  to  raise  money  to 
further  the  cause  of  Parnell  and  his  co-laborers, 
the  mayor  of  the  city  was  called  upon  to  preside, 
47 


794  GLADSTONE—PARNELL. 

and  Mr.  Ryan  was  honored  with  the  Secretar)^- 
ship,  while  the  treasurer  was  Anthony  J.  Drexel, 
the  leading  banker  of  this  country,  Mr.  Ryan  was 
afterwards  chosen  Secretary  of  the  Citizens'  Com- 
mittee, and  as  a  result  of  their  labors  the  sum  of 
thirty-five  thousand  dollars  was  raised  and  trans- 
mitted to  Rev.  Dr.  O'Reilly,  the  Treasurer  of  the 
League  in  America. 

In  the  fall  election  of  1886  Mr.  Ryan  was  the 
nominee  of  the  Democratic  Party  for  the  First 
Congressional  District  of  Pennsylvania,  although 
not  of  the  required  age  when  he  received  the 
honor.  Although  the  district  is  Republican  by  a 
large  majority,  Mr.  Ryan  had  the  courage  to  en- 
ter the  canvass,  and  though  defeated,  as  he  ex- 
pected, yet  he  polled  a  large  and  complimentary 
vote.  Mr.  R^^an  is  a  member  of  the  Philadelphia 
Bar  in  active  practice,  and  gives  promise  of  great 
usefulness  to  the  cause  of  Ireland. 

"A  man  in  the  gap "  has  always  been  our 
friend,  Rev.  Geo.  W.  Pepper,  a  highly  respected 
minister  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  who 
in  his  every  look  and  motion  shows  the  energy 
and  activity  of  the  educated  intelligent  Irishman. 
He  was  born  fifty-two  years  ago  in  the  townland 
of  Ballinagarrick,  near  the  village  of  Gilford, 
and  not  far  from  Portadown,  in  the  County  Down, 
Ireland.  Although  he  has  been  a  resident  of  the 
United  States  the  greater  portion  of  his  life,  he 
has  been   and  still   is  one    of  the   warmest  ad- 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  795 

vocates  for  Home  Rule  in  his  native  land.  His 
father  was  an  EpiscopaUan  in  faith,  and  master 
of  an  Orange  Lodge,  which  to  this  day  meets  in 
the  same  house  where  Mr.  Pepper  was  born. 
His  father  died  while  Mr.  Pepper  was  quite 
young,  and  hence  he  was  brought  up  by  his 
mother,  who  in  faith  was  a  Presbyterian,  but  in 
politics  a  Republican,  and  in  1848  was  a  devoted 
supporter  of  the  glorious  Young  Irelanders. 

His  mother  died  in  1853,  and  in  the  following 
year  he  came  to  America  and  immediately 
entered  Kenyon  College,  Ohio,  for  the  purpose 
of  studying  theology.  After  remaining  there 
one  year,  he  became  connected  with  the  North 
Ohio  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  and  was  stationed  at  the  town  of  Keene. 
He  continued  in  the  regular  work  of  the  ministry 
until  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  when  he 
thought  it  was  his  duty  to  fly  to  the  aid  of  his 
adopted  country,  first  as  Captain  and  then  as 
Chaplain.  He  served  until  the  close  of  the  war, 
participating  In  a  number  of  engagements,  and 
took  part  in  the  "  March  to  the  Sea."  While  in 
the  army  he  also  acted  as  correspondent  for 
the  Louisville  CouTier-Joui'iial,  the  Cincinnati 
Commercial,  and  sent  a  number  of  letters  to  the 
New  York  Times. 

Upon  leaving  the  army  he  re-entered  the 
ministry  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  filling  a  number  of 
leading  pulpits  in  Ohio,  and  still  continues  in  the 


796  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

sacred  office.  Several  years  ago  he  made  a  visit 
to  Ireland,  and,  In  the  town  where  he  was  born, 
lectured  upon  "  America  and  the  Americans.'' 
The  next  day  he  was  visited  by  two  policemen 
and  warned  to  leave  the  country.  He  pulled  out 
his  passport  with  the  signature  of  James  G.  Blaine 
as  Secretary  of  State,  and  threatened  that  if  he 
was  arrested  he  would  telegraph  to  him,  when 
they  immediately  retired. 

Mr.  Pepper  is  one  of  the  most  graceful  and 
impassioned  speakers  that  has  ever  appeared 
upon  a  public  platform.  He  is  a  true  orator,  full 
of  fervor  and  eloquence,  and  he  speaks  with  a 
force  and  earnestness  that  rarely  fails  to  carry 
conviction.  He  is,  without  doubt,  one  of  the 
most  widely-known  and  popular  lecturers  on 
Ireland  in  this  country. 

Mr.  Pepper  has  lectured  in  all  the  States  of  the 
Union,  and  had  large  audiences  in  California. 
Coming  east  after  his  visit  to  the  Pacific  slope,  he 
was  for  a  time  the  guest  of  Mackay,  the  Bonanza 
Kine.  He  tried  to  induce  the  latter  to  offer 
fifty  millions  of  dollars  towards  the  purchase  of 
Ireland  from  England ;  but  while  he  is  an  Irishman, 
"his  love  of  country  "said  Mr.  Pepper;  "was  hardly 
strong  enough  to  carry  him  that  far."  Mr.  Pepper 
has  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  some  of  the  world's 
greatest  men.  At  Belfast  he  first  met  General 
Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  and  had  the  pleasure  of 
an  intimate  acquaintance  with  him  until  his  death. 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  797 

In  1868,  he  received  from  Charles  Sumner 
a  letter  on  the  Irish  question,  in  which  he  said : 

"  I  regret  the  condition  of  affairs  in  Ireland, 
which  is  indeed  deplorable,  and  I  am  glad  to  see 
that  the  subject  is  beginning  to  engage  the  atten- 
tion of  British  statesmen.  Justice  to  Ireland  is  a 
British  necessity.  In  every  effort  for  Irish  inde- 
pendence and  human  rights,  there  is  but  one  side 
for  my  sympathy  and  aspiration." 

In  an  address  which  Mr.  Pepper  made  before 
the  Methodist  Conference  of  Ohio  on  "The  Cause 
of  Ireland,"  the  greatest  enthusiasm  prevailed,  and 
when  he  hadconcludedhisaddress,the  Rev.  Horace 
Place  arose,  and  offered  the  following  resolution  : 

'■^Resolved — Having  listened  with  pleasure  and 
delight  to  our  brother,  Rev.  Geo.  W.  Pepper,  of 
Ashland,  in  his  powerful  and  eloquent  address 
upon  the  all-engrossing  cause  of  Ireland,  we, 
as  members  of  this  Conference,  do  hereby  heartily 
endorse  Home  Rule  as  a  grand  step  towards  Irish 
independence,  and  that  we  thank  God  that  the 
great  statesman,  Wm.  E.  Gladstone,  is  crowning 
his  long  and  distinguished  career  by  propos- 
ing so  wise,  so  just,  and  so  beneficial  a  measure." 

The  presiding  elder,  Rev.  G.  H.  Hughes,  who 
was  President,  put  the  resolution,  the  whole  audi- 
ence rising  to  their  feet.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Barron 
then  sang  the  "  Harp."  It  was  a  grand  scene,  and 
no  Irish  audience  could  rival  the  enthusiasm  tliat 
was  there  manifested. 


798  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Mr.  Pepper  is  married  and  has  six  children, 
three  boys  and  three  girls.  His  wife's  name  was 
Christiana  Lindsay  ;  and  his  youngest  son,  Charles 
Meagher  Pepper,  is  in  charge  of  the  Washington- 
Chicago  Tribune  Bureau. 

Hugh  McCaffrey,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  the 
candidate  against  John  Fitzgerald  for  President 
of  the  National  League,  was  born  on  the  17th  day 
of  June,  1843,  near  Banbridge,  County  Down, 
Ireland.  His  father  being  a  farmer,  young 
McCaffrey  attended  the  nearest  country  school, 
about  two  miles  distant  from  his  home,  and  re- 
ceived a  good  public  school  education.  Being  an 
ambitious  youth,  he  consulted  his  parents  as  to 
the  best  method  of  improving  his  position  in  life, 
and  they  counselled  him  to  emigrate  to  America, 
where  his  older  brother,  Arthur,  had  already 
gone. 

He  complied  with  the  advice  of  his  parents,  and 
in  September,  1859,  being  then  in  his  seventeenth 
year,  he  sailed  for  the  land  of  liberty.  On  arriv- 
ing in  New  York,  he  immediately  proceeded 
to  Philadelphia,  wliere  he  met  his  brother,  who 
put  him  at  file-making,  a  trade  which  was  then  in 
its  infancy  in  the  United  States.  On  reaching 
his  majority  he  took  out  naturalization  papers,  and 
then  started  in  business  for  himself.  By  industry 
and  diligent  attention  he  prospered,  and  in  three 
years  took  his  brother  John  into  partnership,  and 
the  firm,  which  still  exists  under  the  tide  of  the 


THE   GREAT   IRISH  STRUGGLE.  799 

Pennsylvania  File  Works,  became  "  McCaffrey  & 
Bro."  From  his  earliest  years,  Mr.  McCaffrey 
has  taken  an  active  interest  in  the  affairs  of  his 
native  land,  and  at  all  times  the  strings  of  his 
purse  have  been  unloosed  when  aid  was  needed 
for  the  great  cause  of  Ireland,  Fie  was  present 
at  the  first  meeting  called  in  Philopatrian  Hall, 
Philadelphia,  to  organize  the  Land  League,  and 
afterwards  became  a  member  of  the  Red  Hand 
Branch. 

In  the  spring  of  1882,  when  Mr.  Michael  Davitt 
came  to  America,  Mr.  McCaffrey,  with  two 
others,  was  chosen  to  represent  the  Philadelphia 
Central  Union  at  Mr.  Davitt's  reception,  in  New 
York.  He  was  also  elected  Treasurer  of  the 
Central  Union,  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the 
death  of  Michael  Patton,  and  held  that  position 
until  the  reorganization  of  the  Land  League,  on 
its  mereinor  into  the  National  Lea8:ue.  Robert 
M.  McWade,  the  President  of  the  new  organiza- 
tion, or  municipal  council,  appointed  him  to  repre- 
sent the  council  at  the  interview  held  with  Presi- 
dent Arthur,  in  Washington,  against  pauper 
Immigration. 

When  Mr.  Alexander  Sullivan,  the  then  Presi- 
dent of  the  League,  called  for  subscriptions  to  the 
Parliamentary  Fund,  Mr.  McCaffrey,  if  not  the 
second,  was  at  least  the  third  person  to  respond, 
and  on  April  23,  1884,  forwaraed  his  check  for 
one  hundred  dollars.    When  Robert  M.  McWade, 


800  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

at  the  end  of  the  year  1884,  resigned  the  presi- 
dency of  the  municipal  council  and  positively  de- 
clined the  honor  of  a  re-election,  Mr.  McCaffrey 
was  chosen  as  his  successor,  and  still  retains  that 
important  position.  During  his  administration, 
he  has  labored  earnestly  to  have  Irishmen  agree, 
no  matter  what  their  personal  views  might  be, 
that  they  would  sacrifice  them  for  the  good  of  the 
movement  in  Ireland;  and  has  counselled  all  to 
support  Mr.  Parnell  and  the  Parliamentary  Fund, 
On  the  occasion  of  the  lecture  of  Hon.  A.  M. 
Keiley,  at  the  Academy  of  Music,  in  Philadelphia, 
for  the  same  fund,  Mr.  McCaffrey  subscribed 
^150;  while  at  the  citizens'  meeting  in  the  City 
Councils'  Chamber,  in  January,  1886,  he  and  his 
brother  John  gave  the  sum  of  $500.  He  was 
also  one  of  the  committee  of  fifty  which  raised 
^35,000  in  six  weeks  for  the  fund;  and  he,  with 
John  H.  Campbell,  Esq.,  and  others  arranged  the 
"  getting  up  "  of  the  meeting  of  English,  Scotch  and 
Welsh  citizens,  at  St.  George's  Hall,  Philadelphia, 
on  July  12,  1886,  to  sympathize  with  Mr.  Glad- 
stone and  Home  Rule  in  Ireland.  Besides  this, 
Mr.  McCaffrey  was  elected  one  of  the  delegates 
to  represent  the  Philadelphia  Municipal  Council 
at  the  Chicago  Convention,  in  August,  1886;  and 
in  various  other  ways  have  his  friends  attested 
his  devotion  to  the  cause  of  Ireland. 

Another  Philadelphian,  who  has  the  honor  of 
being   at    the   head   of    the   Ancient    Order    of 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  gQl 

Hibernians  In  this  country  is  Maurice  F.  Wilhere. 
He  was  borp  in  the  County  Donegal,  Ireland, 
October  30,  1854,  and  in  company  with  his 
mother  and  sisters  immigrated  to  this  country  in 
1859  (one  year  subsequent  to  the  death  of  his 
father,  whose  ashes  repose  in  the  Green  Isle). 
The  family  landed  in  Philadelphia  and  have  since 
made  it  their  home.  The  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  the  youngest  of  the  children,  and  received 
his  education  in  St.  John's  Parochial  School  and 
in  the  Manayunk  Boys'  Grammar  School,  from 
which  he  was  admitted  to  the  High  School,  but 
resigned,  beino-  more  anxious  to  contribute  to 
the  support  of  his  widowed  mother,  and  trusting 
to  leisure  hours  to  make  up  the  deficiency  of  a 
more  advanced  scholastic  course. 

Mr.  Wilhere  was  appointed  superintendent  of 
the  Stamp  Department  in  the  Philadelphia  Post 
Office  in  1885,  which  position  he  has  filled  with 
the  same  ability  and  good  management  which 
characterized  him  in  every  sphere  of  life  in 
which  he  moved.  A  Democrat  in  American 
politics,  whose  views  are  not  curbed  by  party 
lines,  and  recognizing  that  the  glory  of  the 
Republic  is  in  its  toleration  of  every  man's  honest 
opinions,  he  carries  with  him  alike  the  respect  of 
l^is  own  party,  and  the  friendship  of  those  who 
differ  from  him  in  political  creed.  For  a  period 
of  eight  years  he  has  been  Chairman  of  the 
Democratic   Committee   of  his   District,  and   for 


802  GLADSTONE— PARN  ELL. 

four  years  represented  the  Fourth  Senatorial 
District  in  the  State  Executive  Committee. 

It  is  said  that  every  man  has  a  hobby,  and  it 
may  be  truthfully  said  of  Mr.  Wilhere  that  his 
leanings  have  been  always  in  the  direction  of 
Irish  societies. 

At  the  age  of  fifteen  years,  he  first  entered  an 
Irish  society  and  ever  since  has  actively  engaged 
in  the  propagation  of  organization  among  the 
Irish  race.  Ever  alive  to  the  duties  and  re- 
sponsibilities imposed  upon  him,  he  deservedly 
can  claim  recognition  as  having  faithfully  devoted 
time  and  labor  for  the  advancement  of  his  con- 
victions. As  an  instance  of  this,  with  all  his 
duties,  both  public  and  private,  he  has  been  for 
sixteen  years  Secretary  of  St.  Patrick's  Society  in 
his  parish,  and  for  a  period  of  twelve  years  has 
been  a  delegfate  and  officer  of  the  Irish  Catholic 
Benevolent  Union  of  America.  For  six  years 
he  has  been  Vice-President  of  this  great  and 
useful  organization,  and  succeeded  the  Hon.  A. 
M.  Keiley  as  President,  after  that  gentleman's 
appointment  as  Minister  to  Austria. 

While  fully  convinced  of  the  utility  of  benevo- 
lent organizations,  he  saw  that  the  cause  of 
Ireland  could  only  be  brought  prominently  before 
the  world  by  organized  power  and  methods ; 
consequently,  when  the  Land  League  agitation 
started,  he  threw  his  whole  soul  into  the  move- 
ment.    Those  who  remember  the  early  struggles 


THE  GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  803 

of  that  movement  in  this  country,  only  can  realize 
the  thorny  path  which  had  to  be  travelled  by  the 
champions  of  Irish  liberty.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  committee  who  received  Mr.  Parnell  in 
1879,  and  afterwards  organized  one  of  the  first 
branches  of  the  Land  League  in  Philadelphia. 
A  short  time  after  this  the  Central  Union  of  the 
Irish  National  Land  League  of  Philadelphia  was 
formed,  of  which  body  he  was  the  first  President, 
and  filled  that  position  until  the  great  Irish 
Convention  was  held  in  Philadelphia,  when  he 
was  chosen  State  representative  of  the  newly 
born  Irish  National  League.  At  the  Boston  Con- 
vention in  1884,  notwithstanding  his  declination 
of  the  position,  he  was  chosen  Vice-President  of 
the  League,  which  he  filled  with  the  same  earnest 
devotion  to  duty  which  won  for  him  the  respect 
and  admiration  of  his  co-workers. 

In  1874  he  joined  the  Ancient  Order  of  Hiber- 
nians, and  filled  at  different  periods  the  positions 
of  Secretary  and  President  of  his  division  until 
1884,  when  he  was  chosen  State  Delegate.  At 
the  National  Convention  of  the  order,  held  in 
St.  Paul,  Minn.,  in  1886,  he  was  the  almost  unani- 
mous choice  for  the  position  of  National  Delegate 
— the  highest  position  in  the  gift  of  the  organiza- 
tion. The  selection  was  indeed  a  happy  one, 
and  not  only  the  members  of  the  organization, 
but  their  friends  outside,  felt  that  no  wiser  or  bet- 
ter selection  could  have  been  made.     It  was  par- 


804  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

ticularly  pleasing  to  the  members  of  the  Irish 
National  League  that  such  a  thorough-going  Na- 
tionalist should  be  placed  at  the  head  of  an  or- 
ganization which  is  the  oldest  and  most  powerful 
union  that  has  ever  existed  among  our  people. 

During  the  last  seven  years  Philadelphia  has 
been  visited  by  many  of  Ireland's  champions, 
who  addressed  some  of  the  most  magnificent 
gatherings  ever  assembled  in  the  country,  among 
whom  were  T.  P.  O'Connor,  M.  P.,  T.  M.  Healy, 
M.  P.,  Rev.  Father  Sheehy,  and  John  E.  and 
W.  K.  Redmond,  M.  P.  On  all  of  these  occasions 
Mr.  Wilhere  presided,  and  on  various  other  occa- 
sions in  that  period  ably  assisted  on  committees  to 
direct  and  guide  to  success  any  enterprise  having 
for  its  object  the  liberty  of  his  native  land.  His 
unselfish  devotion  to  his  unfortunate  country  has 
made  him  hosts  of  friends  everywhere,  and  few 
leaders  in  the  Irish  movement  are  better  or  more 
favorably  known. 

As  a  speaker,  he  is  concise, argumentative,  forci- 
ble and  convincing,  conveying  the  impression  to 
his  audience  that  he  clearly  understands  what  he 
is  talking  about  and  means  just  exactly  what  he 
says.  As  a  debater,  he  is  quick  to  catch  a  point, 
always  ready  to  reply,  and  brimful  of  jokes  which 
he  skilfully  weaves  into  his  argument.  Genial, 
affable  and  manly,  with  a  desire  always  to  be- 
friend his  fellow-man,  and  with  that  warmth  of 
heart  characteristic  of  his  race,  Mr.  Wilhere  is  a 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  805 

typical  Irishman,  of  whom  his  country  may  well 
be  proud,  and  is  an  example  of  what  our  race  can 
achieve  with  "  a  fair  field  and  no  favors." 

Judge  M.  Cooney  is  a  self-made  man ;  and  is  a 
prominent,  able,  and  successful  lawyer.  He  Is 
an  old  resident  of  San  Francisco,  although  yet  a 
young  man.  He  is  very  popular ;  a  man  of 
strict  integrity  ;  earnest  and  sincere  in  everything, 
of  good  moral  habits,  liberal  in  his  views;  gener- 
ous, charitable,  and  patriotic ;  shrewd  and  calm 
in  his  undertakings,  and  has  the  confidence  and 
respect  of  all  who  know  him.  There  is  no  better 
man  or  citizen  in  California.  He  has  raised  a 
large  and  splendid  family,  and  educated  them  at 
his  own  expense.  He  Is  not  reputed  wealthy, 
but  has  accumulated  considerable  property,  and 
now  resides  In  a  beautiful  home.  He  has  worked 
hard,  attended  to  his  profession,  and  has  a  large 
practice.  He  is  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  he  has 
given  a  great  deal  of  time  to  her  cause.  It  may 
truly  be  said  that  no  man  on  the  Pacific  Coast 
has  done  more  than  he  has  for  the  last  fifteen 
years  for  the  regeneration  and  betterment  of 
Ireland.  And  since  the  Land  League  and  Na- 
tional League  organizations  began  he  has  been 
constantly  at  work.  He  is  a  first-class  organizer 
and  he  believes  in  it.  Under  his  direction  and 
influence  California  has  done  more  than  her 
share  of  the  patriotic  work.  His  whole  soul  is 
in  the  cause ;  he  never  enters  when  the  work  Is 


806  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

done  to  reap  unearned  glory ;  he  inaugurates  the 
work  and  g-oes  with  it.  In  other  words  he  makes 
the  movement  instead  of  the  movement  making 
him.  He  is  a  Nationalist,  a  Parliamentarian,  a 
Conservative,  or  anything  that  will  bring  success 
and  make  Ireland  free  or  improved.  He  loves 
California  as  he  loves  his  native  land,  and  Cali- 
fornians  love  him. 

M.  D.  Gallagher  was  born  in  Bundoarn,  a 
beautiful  watering-place,  situated  on  the  north- 
west coast  of  Ireland.  His  father  was  a  rnan  of 
considerable  influence  in  Bundoarn,  of  a  family 
which  at  one  time  possessed  a  large  portion  of  the 
house  property  of  the  place,  himself  a  person  of 
large  means,  a  sterling  patriot  and  ever  an  ardent 
friend  of  the  poor  people  in  their  struggles  with 
landlord  tyranny  and  oppression.  Mr.  Gallagher 
was  ten  or  eleven  years  of  age  when  his  father  died, 
and  was  left  to  the  care  of  an  uncle,  who  placed  him 
in  a  jewelry  store  in  Ballyshannon.  Dissatisfied* 
however,  with  the  circumscribed  field  presented 
in  a  small  town  in  Ireland,  he  departed  from  his 
native  country,  and  embarked  for  New  York 
when  about  nineteen  years  ot  age ;  within  three 
days  after  his  arrival  he  was  engaged  by  Benedict 
Bros.,  the  Broadway  jewellers ;  six  months  later 
he  was  sent  to  Savannah,  Ga,,  by  one  of  the 
wholesale  houses  of  Maiden  Lane.  He  remained 
in  the  South  two  years  and  returned  to  New  York 
in  the  summer  of  1868,  after  an  extended  tour 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  807 

of  the  country.  A  few  months  after  his  re- 
turn he  commenced  business  with  the  well-known 
New  York  jeweller,  John  Cox,  under  the  firm 
of  Cox  &  Gallagher,  which,  two  years  later,  was 
changed  to  Gallagher  &  Cox.  The  following  ten 
or  eleven  years  he  devoted  to  building  up  his 
business  and  increasing  his  financial  resources. 

On  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Parnell  in  1879,  accom- 
panied by  John  Dillon  and  T.  M.  Healy,  Mr. 
Gallagher  was  one  of  the  sixty  gentlemen  in- 
vited to  meet  him  in  the  New  York  Hotel,  when 
the  foundation  of  the  Irish  National  Land  League 
for  America  was  laid.  He  became  the  President 
of  the  first  branch  of  the  League,  started  in 
America  under  Mr.  Parnell's  advice,  which  is  in 
existence  to-day  as  Branch  One,  Parnell  League, 
New  York  city. 

He  was  a  deleg^ate  to  the  first  Land  League 
Convention  held  in  this  country,  at  Trenor  Hall, 
New  York  city ;  it  was  he,  who  as  a  member  of 
the  committee  on  officers,  proposed  for  the  first 
treasurer  of  the  American  League,  the  name  of 
the  Rev.  Lawrence  Walsh,  of  Connecticut,  the 
wisdom  of  whose  selection  was  proved  by  his 
re-election  at  the  two  succeeding  conven- 
tions, held  respectively  at  Buffalo  and  Wash- 
ington. Mr.  Gallagher  was  Chairman  of  the 
delegation  sent  by  the  Parnell  Leagues  from 
New  York  to  the  Buffalo  Convention,  and  it  was 
his  management  of  affairs  at  that  convention  that 


808  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

largely  contributed  to  the  election  of  P.  A.  Col- 
lins, of  Boston,  for  President,  and  Thomas  Flatley 
of  the  same  place  for  Secretary,  and  Father  Walsh 
for  Treasurer.  The  succeeding  year  found  him 
hard  at  work  building  up  branches,  not  alone  in 
New  York  city,  but  throughout  the  country. 

During  three  months,  every  evening  in  the 
week  and  twice  each  Sunday,  he  addressed 
League  meetings  in  New  York,  in  New  Jerse}', 
Staten  Island,  Long  Island  and  in  Westchester, 
having  during  that  period  founded  over  fifty 
branches ;  at  the  same  time  he  was  President  of 
the  Parnell  Municipal  Council,  composed  of  thirty- 
four  branches,  an  office  which  required  on  his 
part  a  vast  correspondence  to  keep  the  various 
branches  in  good  working  order.  During  this 
time  he  did  not  averao-e  more  than  five  hours 
sleep  in  the  twenty-four,  and  his  business  had  to 
be  attended  to  as  best  he  could,  irregularly  and 
at  intervals.  During  Mr.  Gallagher's  first  term 
as  head  of  the  League  in  New  York,  ^30,000 
were  collected  there  and  forwarded  to  Ireland. 

Mr.  Gallaofher  remained  in  active  work  as 
President  of  the  Parnell  Leagues  up  to  the  Phil- 
adelphia Convention,  when  the  Land  League  was 
merged  in  the  Irish  National  League ;  during  the 
subsequent  two  years  he  remained  compara- 
tively quiet,  attending  to  his  own  branch  and 
leavinor  the  laro^er  field  to  others.  While  in 
retirement  from  active  League  work,  the  Amerl- 


THE  GREAT  IRISH   STRUGGLE.  809 

can  Presidential  election  of  1884  found  him 
again  actively  organizing  against  Mr.  Cleveland 
for  the  Presidency.  Mr.  Gallagher  was  particu- 
larly opposed  to  Mr.  Cleveland  on  account  of 
his  vetoes  of  the  five-cent-fare  bill,  mechanics' 
lien  bill,  the  car-drivers'  bill,  and  other  measures 
affecting  labor  interests  ;  he  was  elected  President 
of  the  Anti-Cleveland  Union  and  helped  to 
organize  a  club  in  every  ward  in  the  city,  speak- 
ing night  after  night  without  one  single  dollar 
for  his  expenses  and  without  any  hope  of  reward 
in  money  or  office,  for  himself  or  friends  or 
relations ;  as  he  had  worked  in  the  Land  League, 
attending  conventions  in  Buffalo,  Washington, 
Philadelphia  and  Chicago,  at  his  own  expense, 
so  in  the  Blaine  campaign,  he  neither  received 
promises  nor  cash  for  his  services.  General  Carr 
appointed  him  a  commander  of  a  division  in  the 
great  Blaine  procession  in  New  York  ;  he  rode 
on  horseback  at  the  head  of  1 200  Democrats,  in 
that  great  demonstration,  which  numbered  50,000 
men  in  line.  Mr.  Gallacrher's  efforts  in  that 
campaign,  assisted  by  those  of  other  Irish-Ameri- 
can Democrats,  caused  a  loss  to  the  Democratic 
party  of  about  75,000  , votes  in  New  York ;  he 
also  presided  at  the  great  Blaine  meeting  of 
Irishmen,  held  in  the  Academy  of  Music  and 
addressed  by  Alexander  Sullivan  of  Chicago. 

In  the  meantime  the  League  in  New  York  had 
dwindled    down    from    sixty-six    to    about    ten 


320  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

branches,  which  was  the  number  of  active 
branches  during  the  year  1885  ;  many  of  the  old 
active  workers  urged  Mr.  Gallagher  to  take  hold 
of  League  matters  again,  but  his  business  had 
suffered  so  much  that  he  declined  on  the  ground 
that  he  could  not  afford  it.  When  the  annual 
elecUon  of  President  of  the  Municipal  Council 
took  place  in  July,  1885,  Mr.  Gallagher's  name 
was  presented  to  the  convention  and  he  was 
elected  President  again.  Notwithstanding  his  re- 
peated refusals  to  hold  any  more  offices,  however, 
his  old  patriotic  sentiments  got  the  best  of  him 
again  ;  he  took  hold,  and  during  the  summer 
months,  when  others  were  enjoying  themselves 
in  the  country,  .  he  was  reorganizing  the  old 
branches  and  building  up  new  ones. 

During  the  fiscal  year,  1884-5,  there  were  only 
^1,400  forwarded  to  the  National  Treasurer  from 
the  Municipal  Council,  but  during  Mr.  Gallagher's 
term  of  one  year,  from  July,  1885,  to  June,  1886, 
although  the  first  six  months  were  devoted  to 
getting  the  organization  together,  the  last  six 
months  of  his  term  show  seventeen  thousand 
dollars  (^17,000)  forwarded  and  three  thousand 
dollars  on  hand,  which  was  deposited  on  the 
night  of  his  successor's  election  and  the  succeed- 
ing meeting,  which  makes  ^20,000  to  his  credit 
for  six  months'  work. 

He  refused  to  allow  his  name  to  be  placed  in 
nomination  again ;    Patrick    Egan,   President   of 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  gH 

the  American  League,  requested  Mr.  Gallagher 
to  act  with  the  National  Committee  to  escort 
the  Parliamentary  Delegation,  Messrs.  O'Brien, 
Redmond  and  Deasy,  to  the  Chicago  Convention, 
held  last  Auo^ust,  and  he  consented  to  act ;  he 
went  down  the  harbor  in  one  of  Mr.  Starin's 
steamers  to  meet  the  deleo;ates  on  their  arrival 
from  Europe,  went  with  them  to  Chicago  and 
escorted  them  back  again  to  New  York,  seeing 
them  safely  on  board  the  steamer  for  home. 

During  Miss  Fanny  Parnell's  active  work  of 
formincf  the  Ladies'  Land  League,  he  was  one 
of  her  trusted  lieutenants,  consulted  by  her 
frequently,  and  when  her  sudden  death  took 
place  he  went  to  Bordentown,  her  late  place  of 
residence,  to  assist  in  forwarding  the  arrange- 
ments for  her  burial.  When  her  remains  were 
removed  to  Boston,  he  was  one  of  the  special 
escorts  to  convey  them  to  their  last  resting-place, 
and  was  selected  as  one  of  the  pall-bearers  by 
the  family  on  the  occasion  of  placing  the  remains 
in  a  receivings  vault  in  Trenton.  When  the 
remains  were  forwarded  to  Boston,  the  Boston 
Committee  appointed  him  again  a  pall-bearer 
to  represent  New  York  city. 

THE    LEAGUE     UNDER     JOHN     FITZGERALD'S    ADMINIS- 
TRATION. 

When  John  Fitzgerald  assumed  the  position 
to  which  the  National  League   Convention    had 


312  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

elected  him,  he  at  once  "  took  hold "  with  his 
accustomed  business  energy,  having  apparently 
made  up  his  mind  that  from  the  outset  his  ad- 
ministration should  be  marked  by  the  "snap" 
and  energy  so  characteristic  of  the  Irish- American 
pioneers  in  the  Far  West.  In  the  first  place,  by 
means  of  brief  circular  letters  he  informed  the 
members  of  the  League  of  the  situation  in  Ire- 
land, eivinof  the  facts  "  in  a  nutshell."  In  the 
second  place,  he  issued,  for  the  better  information 
of  the  American  people,  "An  honest  English- 
man's opinion  on  the  Irish  Question,"  the  EngHsh- 
man  quoted  being  the  Honorable  Wilfred  Scarven 
Blunt,  the  champion  of  Egyptian  autonomy.  He 
followed  that  up  with  a  concise  review  of  the 
Irish  movement,  here  and  in  the  Old  World, 
closing  with  an  earnest  appeal  for  increased  ac- 
tivity in  swelling  the  ranks  of  the  League  and  in- 
creased contributions  to  the  Anti-Eviction  Fund. 
The  first  of  these  documents  was  a  letter  from  the 
Hon.  T.  Harrington,  M.  P.,  Secretary  of  the  Irish 
National  League,  dated  at  Dublin,  Sept.  9,  1886, 
acknowledging  the  receipt  of  ^3,000  from  Rev. 
Dr.  Chas.  O'Reilly,  the  League's  Treasurer. 

President  Fitzgerald  issued  his  first  address 
from  Lincoln,  Nebraska,  on  Sept.  30,  1886,  to  the 
officers  and  members  of  the  National  League  of 
America  "and  other  friends  of  freedom."  In  it 
he  reviewed  the  deliberations  and  subsequent 
action  of  the  Third   National  Convention  of  the 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  §13 

League,  spoke  of  his  unexpected  and  unsolicited 
elevation  to  the  presidency  of  the  organization, 
and  said :  "  It  is  admitted  that  the  numerical 
streno^th  in  the  House  of  Commons  of  the  Irish 
Parliamentary  Party  is  largely  due  to  the  untiring 
efforts  of  the  Leao^ue  in  America.  The  larcje  amount 
of  money  transmitted  at  opportune  times  by  your 
reverend  and  distinguished  treasurer  for  the 
parliamentary  fund  attests  the  efficiency  of  your 
organization.  Your  zealous  labors  also  served 
as  an  incentive  to  other  patriotic  citizens  who 
forwarded  laree  contributions  to  the  same  fund. 
But,  urgent  as  was  the  necessity  that  brought 
forth  such  generous  responses  to  the  parliamen- 
tary fund,  there  now  exists  a  more  urgent  demand 
on  the  Irish  race  throuorhout  the  world.  Love  of 
kindred  and  the  highest  dictates  of  humanity 
invoke  prompt  and  decisive  action.  On  the  2  2d  of 
this  month  the  Tory  Government  of  England 
decided,  by  the  rejection  of  Mr.  Parnell's  land 
bill,  on  the  eviction  and  consequent  starvation  or 
banishment  of  thousands  of  men,  women  and 
children.  Mr.  Gladstone  has  truthfully  said  that 
every  such  eviction  is  equal  to  a  sentence  of 
death.  Alas,  many  a  single  eviction  resulted  in 
several  deaths ;  but  this  was  prior  to  the  organi- 
zation of  the  Irish  National  League.  And  I 
am  greatly  mistaken  in  the  present  temper  of 
the  Irish  race  and  other  friends  of  humanity  if 
that  barbarity  will  ever  again  be  permitted  on 
God's  creatures  anywhere. 


314  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

*'  Until  recently  the  sad  story  of  Ireland  was 
only  known  to  her  sons ;  now  it  is  uppermost  in 
the  minds  of  all  Christendom.  The  outspoken 
sympathy  of  the  world  is  with  her  children  in 
their  struggle  for  home  and  liberty.  Hence 
Lord  Salisbury  and  his  government  will  soon 
discover  that  they  can  neither  starve,  exterminate, 
nor  subdue  by  coercion,  the  Irish  people.  The 
fight  is  on.  Evictions  for  the  non-payment  of 
impossible  rents  have  commenced,  God's  creat- 
ures are  being-  rendered  homeless  and  turned  out 
on  the  roadside.  But  they  shall  not  die  the 
death  planned  for  them  by  heartless  tyrants. 

"  I  therefore  appeal  to  every  man  and  woman 
with  Irish  blood  coursing  in  their  veins  to  aid  in 
resisting  this  inhuman  brutality.  Let  every 
branch  of  the  League  at  once  start  an  anti-evic- 
tion fund,  and  send  the  contributions  to  the 
National  Treasurer,  Rev.  Charles  O'Reilly,  De- 
troit, Mich,  Branches  should  be  started  in  every 
town  and  village  in  the  country ;  in  the  work- 
shops and  on  the  railroads.  Rich  and  poor 
should  unite  in  this  humane  and  patriotic  work. 

"  Organization  is  necessary  to  resist  organized 
tyranny.  Let  the  twenty  millions  of  the  scattered 
Irish  race,  whose  hearts  beat  true  to  Erin  and 
liberty,  unite  under  the  leadership  of  Charles 
Stewart  Parnell  in  the  Irish  National  League, 
and  present  a  united  and  determined  front  to  that 
Government  whose  Queen  only  a  few  days   ago 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  815 

intimated  that  the  blood  and  treasure  of  her 
empire  would  defend  Home  Rule  in  Bulgaria, 
while  denying  Home  Rule  to  Ireland,  and  while 
she  is  content  with  appointing  a  *  commission  oi 
inquiry'  into  the  system  of  Irish  landlord  rob- 
bery. Let  the  good  work  commence  at  once. 
State  delegates  should  lose  no  time  in  organizing 
their  several  States,  while  municipal  councils  and 
branch  officers  should  be  untiring  in  their  efforts 
to  increase  the  roll  of  membership.  Secretaries 
of  branches  will  please  notify  the  National  Sec- 
retary, John  P.  Sutton,  Lincoln,  Neb.,  of  all  re- 
mittances to  the  National  Treasurer,  and  all 
changes  in  branch  officers. 

"  1  respectfully  request  of  the  American  press 
a  continuance  of  the  invaluable  assistance  hereto- 
fore rendered  the  League,  and  I  most  earnestly 
ask  the  Irish-American  press  to  arouse  our 
countrymen  to  the  imperative  necessity  of  united, 
decisive,  and  prompt  action  in  aid  of  the  anti- 
eviction  fund.  I  append  an  appeal  from  Honora- 
ble Charles  Stewart  Parnell,  whose  forcible  terms 
should  awaken  a  response  in  the  heart  of  every 
friend  of  the  oppressed,  and  more  especially  in 
those  of  my  fellow-countrymen. 

"I  remain  yours  faithfully, 

"John  Fitzgerald, 

''President  Irish  National  League  of  Americay 


816  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

"  AvoNDALE,  County  Wicklow, 

''September  25,  1886. 
''  To  John  Fitzgerald,  Esq. 

"Dear  Sir:  The  rejection  of  the  Tenants' 
P.elief  Bill,  the  scarcely  veiled  threats  of  the  Irish 
Secretary,  and  the  alarming  increase  in  the  num- 
ber of  evictions,  clearly  indicate  the  commence- 
ment of  a  combined  movement  of  extermination 
against  the  tenant  farmers  of  Ireland  by  the  En- 
eiish  Government  and  the  Irish  landlords.  I  lose 
no  time  in  advising  you  of  the  imminence  of  a 
crisis  and  a  peril  which  have  seldom  been  equalled 
even  in  the  troubled  history  of  Ireland.  I  know 
that  it  will  be  the  highest  duty  and  the  most 
honorable  task  which  can  engage  the  attention  of 
my  countrymen  in  free  America  to  do  what  in 
them  lies  to  frustrate  the  attempt  of  those  who 
would  assassinate  our  nation,  and  to  alleviate  the 
sufferings  of  those  who,  unhappily,  must  be  the 
numerous  victims  of  the  social  war  which  has 
been  preached  by  the  rich  and  powerful  govern- 
ment of  England  against  our  people. 

"In  sending  us  that  moral  and  material  assist- 
ance which  has  never  been  wanting,  has  never  been 
stinted,  from  your  side  of  the  Atlandc,  you  will 
perform  two  most  important  and  valuable  func- 
tions :  you  will  encourage  the  weak  to  resist  and 
bear  oppression,  and  you  will  also  lessen  and 
alleviate  those  feelings  of  despair  In  the  minds  of 


THE   GREAT   IRISH    STRUGGLE.  817 

the  evicted  which  have  so  often  and  so  unhappily 
stimulated  those  victims  to  recourse  to  the  wild 
spirit  of  revenge.  In  doing  so  you  will  assist  in 
preserving  for  our  movement  that  peaceable 
character  which  has  enabled  it  to  win  its  most 
recent  and  almost  crowning  triumph,  while  you 
will  strengthen  it  to  bear  oppression  and  encour- 
age our  people  until  the  final  goal  of  legislative 
independence  has  been  won. 

"Yours  faithfully,         Charles  S.  Parnell." 

Lord  Randolph  Churchill  and  his  Tory  Cabi- 
net, after  repeated  consultations,  finally  adopted  a 
scheme  of  coercion,  to  be  put  in  force  in  every 
part  of  Ireland  w^here  the  Irish  National  League 
had,  through  its  members,  shown  any  signs  of 
vitality.  It  was  publicly  stated  and  nowhere 
denied  that  this  scheme  comprised  the  seizure  of 
O'Brien's  patriotic  newspaper,  United  Ii^eland,  the 
proclamation  and  attempted  extinction  of  the  Irish 
National  League,  the  arrest  of  the  League's 
officers,  and  the  arrest  of  all  persons  who  advised 
the  tenant-farmers  to  resist  eviction  or  who  acted 
as  trustees  of  Anti-Eviction  Funds.  The  landlords 
were  also,  it  was  reported,  to  be  aided  at  all 
hazards  by  the  constabulary  and  the  military  in 
the  enforcement  of  their  writs  of  eviction,  in  all 
cases  where  the  tenants  refused  to  pay  more 
than  what  they  considered  a  fair  and  just  rental 
for  their  farms.     President  Fitzgerald,  seeing  the 


818  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

necessity  for  immediate  action  on  the  part  of  the 
exiled  race  on  the  American  continent,  in  a  stir- 
ring despatch  dated  Nov.  30,  1886,  called  upon 
the  State  Delegates  to  wheel  their  respective 
branches  into  line  and  prepare  for  a  hot  and  ex- 
citing campaign.  "  The  Tory  Government  of  Great 
Britain  has,"  he  said,  "  once  more  evinced  its  in- 
capacity to  govern  Ireland  by  other  means  than 
coercion.  Our  brethren  in  Ireland  are  a^ain  called 
to  show  by  courage,  suffering  and  self-sacrifice 
that  they  are  the  heirs  of  their  fathers'  heroism. 
The  time  has  come  when  we  should  prove  by  our 
actions  that  our  hearts  beat  in  unison  with  theirs 
in  a  common  love  for  Ireland  and  liberty.  A  few 
weeks  since  we  promised  that,  should  England 
again  have  recourse  to  coercion,  we  would  stand 
by  them.  We  must  now  redeem  that  pledge. 
Public  meetings  are  proclaimed ;  soldiers  are  be- 
ing crowded  into  the  country  to  overcome  and, 
should  opportunity  offer,  to  slaughter  the  people  ; 
prison-cells  await  the  nation's  leaders,  and  every 
engine  of  oppression  and  unconstitutional  legisla- 
tion is  about  to  be  used  to  prop  up  tyranny  and 
injustice  and  to  crush  the  legitimate  aspirations  of 
Ireland. 

"We  must  see  to  it  that  our  promise  of  assist- 
ance was  no  idle  boast.  State  Delegates  are 
called  upon  to  proceed  at  once  to  the  work  of  or- 
ganizing the  League  in  their  respective  States 
and  Provinces.     They  should  use  every  means  to 


THE   GREAT   IRISH   STRUGGLE.  821 

Increase  the  membership  of  existing  branches  and 
establish  new  ones,  and  should  urge  the  officers 
ot  branches  within  their  jurisdiction  to  devise 
means  to  promptly  raise  funds  and  forward  them 
to  the  National  Treasurer,  Rev.  Charles  O'Reilly, 
D.  D.,  Detroit,  Michigan,  in  aid  of  the  Anti-Evic- 
tion Fund. 

"We  must  not  stand  idle  in  the  face  of  the 
present  crisis.  Experience  has  proved  the  futility 
of  coercion  to  crush  a  determined  and  united 
people  with  the  loyal  aid  of  her  exiled  children. 
Ireland  will  come  out  of  this  struggle  unconquered, 
unconquerable,  victorious." 

The  hearty  and  unanimous  replies  that  poured 
in  on  him  from  Canada  and  from  every  .State  and 
Territory  in  the  United  States,  assured  him  that 
he  could  count  with  certainty  upon  the  loyalty, 
patriotism,  and  substantial  sympathy  of  the  State 
Delegates  and  of  the  people  everywhere.  As  I 
pen  the  closing  lines  of  this  work,  Anti-Eviction 
Fund  Committees,  composed  of  men  and  women 
of  various  shades  of  religious  belief  and  of  as 
many  different  nationalities  as  are  found  in  this 
free  country  of  ours,  are  springing  up,  as  if  by 
magic,  on  all  sides.  The  great  heart  of  America 
throbs  in  sympathy  with  the  suffering  children  of 
Ireland  in  their  efforts  for  the  amelioration  of  her 
unhappy  condidon.  Merchants  and  bankers, 
farmers  and  mechanics,  manufacturers  and  mem- 
bers of  the  learned  professions,  clergymen  and 


322  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

laymen,  all  conspire  in  this  noble  cause  and  unite 
In  giving  generously  of  their  means  to  support 
this  Anti-Unfair-Rent  Fund,  and  to  aid  the  men 
"at  home," 

"  Men  who  their  duties  know, 
But  know  their  rights,  and.  knowing,  dare  maintain." 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

HISTOR\    OF    AN    IDEA WHY    I    BECAME   A   HOME 

RULER. 

BY  RIGHT  HON.   W.   E     GLADSTONE. 

IN  the  year  1868  I  was  closely  associated  with 
the  policy  of  disestablishing  the  Irish  Church. 
It  was  then,  not  unfairly,  attempted  to  assail  the 
cause  in  the  person  of  its  advocate.  To  defeat 
this  attempt  an  act  became  necessary  which  would 
otherwise  have  been  presumptuous  and  obtrusive. 
In  order  to  save  the  policy  from  suffering,  I  laid  a 
personal  explanation  before  the  world.*  The  same 
motive  now  obliges  me  to  repeat  the  act,  and  will, 
I  hope,  form  a  sufficient  excuse  for  my  repeat- 
ing it. 

The  substance  of  my  defence  or  apology  will, 
however,  on  the  present  occasion  be  altogether 
different.  I  had  then  to  explain  the  reasons  for 
which,  and  the  mode  in  which,  I  changed  the 
opinions  and  conduct,  with  respect  to  the  Church 
of  Ireland  then  established,  which  I  had  held  half 
a  century  ago.  I  had  shown  my  practical  accept- 
ance of  the  rule  that  change  of  opinion  should  if 
possible  be  accompanied  with  proof  of  independ- 

*  "A  Chapter  of  Autobiography,"  Murray,  1868. 

(823) 


824  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

ence  and  disinterested  motive ;  for  I  had  resigned 
my  place  in  the  Cabinet  of  Sir  Robert  Peel  in 
order  to  make  good  my  title  to  a  new  point  of 
departure.  On  the  present  occasion  I  have  no 
such  change  to  vindicate,  but  only  to  point  out  the 
mode  in  which  my  language  and  conduct,  governed 
by  uniformity  of  principle,  have  simply  followed 
the  several  stages  by  which  the  great  question  of 
autonomy  for  Ireland  has  been  brought  to  a  state 
of  ripeness  for  practical  legislation. 

It  is  a  satisfaction  to  me  that,  in  confuting  im- 
putations upon  myself,  I  shall  not  be  obliged  to 
cast  imputations  on  any  individual  opponent. 

The  subject  of  a  domestic  Government  for  Ire- 
land, without  any  distinct  specification  of  its  form, 
has  been  presented  to  us  from  tln;e  to  time  within 
the  last  fifteen  or  sixteen  years.  I  have  at  no  time 
regarded  it  as  necessarily  replete  with  danger,  or 
as  a  question  which  ought  to  be  blocked  out  by 
the  assertion  of  some  hio-h  constitutional  doctrine 
with  which  it  could  not  be  reconciled.  But  I  have 
considered  it  to  be  a  question  Involving  such  an 
amount  and  such  a  kind  of  change,  and  likely  to 
be  encountered  with  so  much  of  prejudice  apart 
from  reason,  as  to  make  it  a  duty  to  look  rigidly 
to  the  conditions,  upon  the  fulfilment  of  which 
alone  it  could  warrantably  be  entertained.  They 
were  in  my  view  as  follows : 

I.  It  could  not  be  entertained,  except  upon  a 
final  surrender  of  the  hope  that  Parliament  could 
so  far  serve  as  a  legislative  instrument  for  Ireland 


HISTORY  OF  AN   IDEA.  825 

as  to  be  able  to  establish  honorable  and  friendly 
relations  between  Great  Britain  and  the  people 
of  that  country.* 

2.  Nor  unless  the  demand  for  it  were  made  ih 
obedience  to  the  unequivocal  and  rooted  desire 
of  Ireland,  expressed  through  the  constitutional 
medium  of  the  Irish  representatives. 

3.  Nor  unless,  being  thus  made,  it  were  like- 
wise so  defined  as  to  bring  it  within  the  limits  of 
safety  and  prudence,  and  to  obviate  all  danger  to 
the  unity  and  security  of  the  Empire. 

4.  Nor  was  it,  in  my  view,  allowable  to  deal 
with  Ireland  upon  any  principle,  the  benefit  of 
which  could  not  be  allowed  to  Scotland  in  circum- 
stances of  equal  and  equally  clear  desire. 

5.  Upon  the  fulfilment  of  these  conditions,  it 
appeared  to  me  an  evident  duty  to  avoid,  as  long 
as  possible,  all  steps  which  would  bring  this  great 
settlement  into  the  category  of  party  measures. 

6.  And,  subject  to  the  foregoing  considerations, 
I  deemed  it  to  be  of  great  moment  to  the  public 
weal  that  the  question  should  be  promptly  and 
expeditiously  dealt  with,  inasmuch  as  it  must 
otherwise  gravely  disturb  the  action  of  our  polit- 
ical system  by  changes  of  Ministry,  by  dissolutions 
of  Parliament,  and  by  impeding  the  business  and 
derogating  further  from  the  character  of  the 
House  of  Commons. 

*  I  have  not  in  the  following  pages  given  explanations  on  this  head,  aa 
I  think  they  were  sufficiently  supplied  by  my  speech  on  the  introduction 
oi  the  Irish  Government  Bill  in  April  last. 


826  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

These  were  the  principles  which  I  deemed  ap- 
plicable to  the  subject;  and  every  step  I  have 
taken  from  first  to  last,  without  exception,  has 
been  prompted  by,  and  is  referable  to,  one  or  other 
of  them. 

From  the  torrent  of  reproachful  criticisms, 
brought  down  upon  me  probably  by  the  necessity 
of  the  case,  it  is  not  easy  to  extricate,  in  an  ade- 
quate form,  the  charge  or  charges  intended  to  be 
made.  One  or  two  of  the  statements,  I  must 
own,  surprise  me ;  as  for  example  when  Lord 
Northbrook,  complaining  of  me  for  reticence  be- 
fore, and  for  my  action  after  the  election  of  1885, 
states  confidently  that  nothing  had  happened 
"  that  could  not  have  been  foreseen  by  any  man 
of  ordinary  political  foresight."  I  do  not  dwell 
upon  the  undeniable  truth  that  many  things  may 
be  foreseen,  which,  notwithstanding,  cannot  prop- 
erly become  the  subject  of  action  until  they  have 
been  seen  as  well  as  foreseen.  But  I  broadly 
contest  the  statement.  I  assert  that  an  incident 
of  the  most  vital  importance  had  happened,  which 
I  did  not  foresee ;  which  was  not  foreseen,  to  my 
knowledge,  by  any  one  else,  even  if  some  might 
have  hoped  for  it,  and  which  I  doubt  whether  Lord 
Northbrook  himself  foresaw ;  namely,  that  the 
Irish  demand,  put  forth  on  the  first  night  of  the 
session  by  Mr.  Parnell,  with  eighty-four  Irish 
Home  Rulers  at  his  back,  would  be  confined  within 
the  fair  and  moderate  bounds  of  autonomy  ;  of  an 
Irish  legislature,  only  for  affairs  specifically  Irish; 


HISTORY   OF   AN   IDEA.  §27 

of  a  Statutory  and  subordinate  Parliament.  But 
in  this  incident  lay  the  fulfilment  of  one  of  those 
conditions  which  were  in  my  view  essential,  and 
which  had  been  theretofore  unfulfilled. 

The  more  general  and  more  plausible  form  of 
the  attack  I  think  may  be  stated  as  a  dilemma. 
Either  I  had  conceived  the  intention  of  Home 
Rule  precipitately,  or  I  had  concealed  it  unduly. 
Either  would,  undoubtedly,  have  been  a  grave 
offence;  the  second  as  a  plot  against  my  friends, 
the  first  as  an  attempt  to  escape  from  the  sober 
judgment  of  the  country,  and  to  carry  it  by  sur- 
prise. The  first  aspect  of  the  case  was  presented 
by  Lord  Hartington  in  the  House  of  Commons,* 
and  by  Mr.  Chamberlain,  on  the  20th  of  June,  at 
Birmingham.'!*  The  second  was  put  forward  by 
Mr.  Bright  in  addressing  his  constituents,!  and, 
with  much  point  and  force,  by  Lord  Hartington  § 
at  Sheffield.  In  substance  he  argued  thus:  "  Mr, 
Gladstone  has  never,  during  fifteen  years,  con- 
demned the  principle  of  Home  Rule.  Either, 
then,  he  had  not  considered  it,  or  he  had  assented 
to  it.  But,  in  his  position  as  Minister,  he  must 
have  considered  it.  Therefore  the  proper  con- 
clusion is  that  he  had  assented  to  it.  And  yet, 
though  I  was  Secretary  for  Ireland,  with  Lord 
Spencer  as  Viceroy,  when  he  was  Prime  Minister, 
to  neither  of  us  did  he  convey  the  smallest  idea 
of  such  assent." 

*  Times,  May  II.  •)•  Times,  July  2. 

%  Times,  June  21.  \  Times,  June  29. 

49 


328  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

Telling  as  this  statement  evidently  was,  it 
abounds  in  leakages.  In  the  first  place,  I  deny 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  Minister  to  make 
known,  even  to  his  colleagues,  every  idea  which 
has  formed  itself  in  his  mind.  I  should  even  say 
that  the  contradictory  proposition  would  be  ab- 
surd. So  far  as  my  experience  of  Government 
has  gone,  subjects  ripe  for  action  supply  a  Minis- 
ter with  abundant  material  for  communication 
with  his  colleagues,  and  to  make  a  rule  of  mixing 
with  them  matters  still  contingent  and  remote 
would  confuse  and  retard  business,  instead  of 
aiding  it.  But  letting  pass,  for  argument's  sake, 
a  very  irrational  proposition,  I  grapple  with  the 
dilemma,  and  ^^.y  non  seqiiihw :  the  consequence 
asserted  is  no  consequence  at  all.  It  was  no  con- 
sequence from  my  not  having  condemned  Home 
Rule,  that  I  had  either  not  considered  it,  or  had 
adopted  it.  What  is  true  is,  that  I  had  not  pub- 
licly and  in  principle  condemned  it,  and  also  that 
I  had  mentally  considered  it.  But  I  had  neither 
adopted  nor  rejected  it ;  and  for  the  very  simple 
reason,  that  it  was  not  ripe  either  for  adoption  or 
rejection.  It  had  not  become  the  unequivocal 
demand  of  Ireland  :  and  it  had  not  been  so  de- 
fined by  its  promoters,  as  to  prove  that  it  was  a 
safe  demand.  It  may  and  should  be  known  to 
many  who  are  or  have  been  my  colleagues,  that  I 
made  some  abortive  efforts  towards  increasing 
Irish  influence  over  Irish  affairs,  beyond  the  mere 
extension  of  County  Government,  but  not  in  a 


HISTORY  OF  AN  IDEA,  82.9 

shape  to  which  the  term  Home  Rule  could  be 
properly  applied.  Nor  have  I  been  able  to  trace 
a  single  imputation  upon  me,  whether  of  omission 
or  commission,  in  respect  of  which  I  should  not, 
by  acting  according  to  the  orders  of  my  censors, 
have  offended  against  all  or  some  of  the  rules 
which  I  have  pointed  out  as  the  guides  of  my 
conduct,  and  by  which  I  seek  to  stand  or  fall.* 

As  these  disputes  of  ours,  trivial  enough  from 
one  point  of  view,  are  in  a  certain  sense  making 
history,  it  may  be  well  if,  in  connection  with  the 
thread  of  these  observations,  I  recall,  by  means 
of  a  very  brief  outline,  some  particulars  relating 
to  the  Government  of  Ireland,  and  to  the  demand 
for  a  domesdc  legislature,  during  the  last  half 
century.  For  that  demand,  constant  in  the  hearts 
of  Irishmen,  has  nevertheless  been  intermittent 
in  its  manifestation  ;  sometimes  wider,  sometimes 
narrower  in  its  form  ;  sometimes,  as  in  tlie  fam- 
ine, put  aside  by  imperative  necessity  ;  sometimes 
yielding  the  ground  to  partial  and  lawless  action  ; 
sometimes  exchanged  for  attempts  at  practical 
legislation,  which  for  the  moment  threw  it  into  the 
shade. 

The  great  controversy  of  Free  Trade,  the  re- 
formation of  the  Tariff,  and  the  care  of  finance, 
provided  me,  in  common  with  many  others,  nay, 

>*■  Among  other  persons  whose  animadversions  I  have  examined,  I  may 
mention  those  of  Mi.  Goschen  {Tunes,  l^ay  I  and  3),  Lord  Sdisbury 
[Tunes,  June  14  and  30),  Mr  Baxter  {Times,  May  i),  Sir  M  H  Beach 
(7i;««,  June  24),  Loid  R.  Chuichill  (7/wfj,  June  28)  and  Lord  Haitmg- 
ton,  paistm. 


830  GLADSTONE-PARNELL. 

in  the  main  provided  the  Three  Kingdoms,  with 
a  serious  and  usually  an  absorbing  political  occu- 
pation for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  from  the  time 
when  the  Government  of  Sir  R.  Peel  was  formed, 
in  1841.  When  that  period  had  passed,  and 
when  the  question  of  the  franchise  had  been  dealt 
with,  the  general  condition  of  Ireland  became  the 
main  subject  of  my  anxiety. 

The  question  of  a  home  government  for  Ire- 
land was  at  that  time  in  abeyance.  The  grant 
of  such  a  government  to  that  country  had  only 
been  known  to  us,  in  the  past,  either  as  the  de- 
mand for  a  repeal  of  the  Legislative  Union,  or  in 
the  still  more  formidable  shape  which  it  pre- 
sented when  the  policy  of  O'Connell  was  super- 
seded by  the  men  of  action,  and  when  the  too 
just  discontent  of  Ireland  assumed  the  violent 
and  extravagant  form  of  Fenianism.  The  move- 
ment for  Repeal  appeared  to  merge  into  this 
dangerous  conspiracy,  which  it  was  obvious  could 
only  be  met  by  measures  of  repression. 

In  none  of  these  controversies  had  I  personally 
taken  any  direct  share,  beyond  following  the 
statesmen  of  1834  and  of  1844  by  my  vote 
.against  Repeal  of  the  Union.  Mournfully  as  I 
am  struck,  in  retrospect,  by  the  almost  absolute 
failure  of  Parliament,  at  and  long  after  those 
periods,  to  perform  its  duties  to  Ireland,  I  see  no 
reason  to  repent  of  any  such  vote.  Unspeakably 
criminal,  I  own,  were  the  means  by  which  the 
Union  was  brought  about,  and  utterly  insufficient 


HISTORY  OF  AN  IDEA.  831 

were  the  reasons  for  its  adoption ;  still  it  was  a 
measure  vast  in  itself  and  in  its  consequential 
arrangements,  and  it  could  not  be  made  the  sub- 
ject of  experiment  from  year  to  year,  or  from 
Parliament  to  Parliament.  There  was  then  a  yet 
stronger  reason  for  declining  to  impart  a  shock 
to  the  Legislative  fabric  by  Repeal.  Before  us 
lay  an  alternative  policy,  the  relief  of  Ireland 
from  grievance  ;  and  this  policy  had  not  been 
tried  in  any  manner  at  all  approaching  to  suffi- 
ciency. It  was  not  possible,  at  the  time,  to  prog- 
nosticate how  in  a  short  time  Parliament  would 
stumble  and  almost  writhe  under  its  constantly 
accumulating  burdens,  or  to  pronounce  that  it 
would  eventually  prove  incapable  of  meeting  the 
wants  of  Ireland.  Evidently  there  was  a  period 
when  Irish  patriotism,  as  represented  by  O'Con- 
nell,  looked  favorably  upon  this  alternative 
policy,  had  no  fixed  conclusion  as  to  the  absolute 
necessity  for  Home  Government,  and  seemed  to 
allow  that  measures  founded  in  "justice  to  Ire- 
land "  might  possibly  suffice  to  meet  the  necessity 
of  the  case.  But  the  efforts  made  in  this  direc- 
tion, down  to  the  time  of  the  famine,  were,  though 
honest  and  useful,  only  partial ;  and  they  unhap- 
pily had  been  met  by  an  obstinacy  of  resistance, 
which  entailed  long  delays,  and  frequent  mutila- 
tions ;  and  which  in  all  cases  deprived  them  of 
their  gracious  aspect,  and  made  even  our  re- 
medial plans  play  the  part  of  corroborative  wit- 
nesses to  an  evil  state  of  things. 


832  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

It  will  be  admitted  that  the  Government  of 
1868—74  endeavored  on  a  more  adequate  scale, 
principally  by  what  is  still  called  in  some  quarters 
sacrilege  and  confiscation,  to  grapple  with  an  in- 
veterate difficulty.  Once  more,  in  acknowledg- 
ment of  these  efforts,  the  National  Party  fell  into 
line.  But,  on  the  important  question  of  Educa- 
tion, we  were  defeated  in  1873,  not  by  an  Eng- 
lish, but  by  an  Irish  resistance.  Other  measures, 
to  which  I  had  looked  with  interest,  could  not  be 
brought  to  birth.  But  a  happy  effect  had  been 
produced  upon  Irish  feeling ;  and  prosperity, 
both  agricultural  and  general,  singularly,  it  might 
be  said  unduly,  favored  for  some  years  the  opera- 
tion of  the  Land  Act  of  1870.  We  had  taken 
seriously  to  the  removal  of  grievance,  as  the  al- 
ternative policy  to  Repeal  of  the  Union.  So 
much  had  been  achieved,  with  the  zealous  support 
of  the  electorate  of  England  and  Scodand,  that 
it  was  our  plain  duty  to  carry  through  that 
policy  to  the  uttermost,  and  to  give  no  counte- 
nance in  any  shape  to  proposals  for  either  undoing 
or  modifying  the  present  constitution  of  the  Im- 
perial Parliament,  until  it  had  been  established  to 
our  satisfaction,  or  conclusively  shown  to  be  the 
fixed  and  rooted  conviction  of  the  Irish  people, 
that  Parliament  was  unequal  to  the  work  of 
governing  Ireland  as  a  free  people  should  be 
governed. 

At  this  time  it  was,  that  the  new  formula  of 
Home  Rule  came  forward  as  matter  for  discus- 


HISTORY  OF  AN  IDEA.  833 

sion,  not  in  Parliament,  but  in  Ireland;  before 
the  Irish  public,  and  under  the  auspices  of  Mr. 
Isaac  Butt,  who  was  at  that  time  simply  an  indi- 
vidual of  remarkable  ability,  not  yet  the  repre- 
sentative or  leader  of  a  Nationalist  party,  far  less 
of  a  Nationalist  majority.  There  were,  at  the 
time,  no  inconsiderable  presumptions  that  Parlia- 
ment could  meet  the  wants  of  Ireland,  from  the 
conspicuous  acts  it  had  just  accomplished.  It 
was  very  well  known  that  in  some  cases  where 
those  wants  had  not  been  adequately  met,  such 
as  the  case  of  the  Borough  Franchise  in  1868,  it 
was  really  due  to  the  defective  expression  of 
them  by  Irish  Members  of  Parliament.  It  was 
plain  that  there  was  no  authoritadve  voice  from 
Ireland,  such  as  was  absolutely  required  to  jus- 
tify a  Prime  Minister  of  this  country  in  using  any 
language  which  could  be  quoted  as  an  encour- 
agement to  the  movement  on  behalf  of  a  domes- 
tic Legislature.  Accordingly,  I  contended  at 
Aberdeen,  in  the  summer  of  1871,  that  no  case 
had  been  established  to  prove  the  incompetence 
of  Parliament,  or  to  give  authority  to  the  demand 
of  Mr.  Butt.  I  felt,  and  righdy  felt,  the  strongest 
objections  to  breaking  up  an  existing  constitution 
of  the  Legislature,  without  proof  of  its  necessity, 
of  its  safety,  and  of  the  sufficiency  of  the  au- 
thority by  which  the  demand  was  made.  But 
even  at  that  time  I  did  not  close  the  door  against 
a  recognition  of  the  question  in  a  different  state 
of  things.     I  differed  as  widely  as  possible,  even 


834  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

at  that  time,  from  those  with  whom  I  have  been 
in  conflict  during  the  present  year.  For,  instead 
of  denouncing  the  idea  of  Home  Rule  as  one  in 
its  essence  destructive  of  the  unity  of  the  Empire, 
in  the  following  words  I  accepted  the  assurance 
given  to  the  contrary: 

"Let  me  do  the  promoters  of  this  movement  the  fullest 
justice.  Always  speaking  under  the  conviction,  as  they  most 
emphatically  declare,  and  as  I  fully  believe  them,  that  the 
union  of  these  kingdoms  tinder  Her  Majesty  is  to  be  maintained, 
but  that  Parliament  is  to  be  broken  up."  * 

Thus,  at  the  very  first  inception  of  the  question, 
I  threw  aside  the  main  doctrine  on  which  oppo- 
sition to  Irish  autonomy  is  founded.  This  was 
the  first  step,  and  I  think  a  considerable  step, 
towards  placing  the  controversy  on  its  true  basis. 

In  the  General  Election  of  1874,  a  great  prog- 
ress became  visible.  Mr.  Butt  was  returned  to 
Parliament  as  the  chief  of  a  party  formed  on  be- 
half of  Irish  self-ofovernment.  It  was  a  consider- 
able  part}'',  amounting,  as  is  said,  to  a  small  nomi- 
nal majority,  yet  rather  conventionally  agreed  on 
a  formula  than  united  by  any  idea  worked  into 
practical  form.  But  a  new  stage  had  been 
reached,  and  I  thus  referred  at  the  opening  of 
the  Session  f  to  the  proposal  of  the  Irish  leader: 

"That  plan  is  this — that  exclusively  Irish  affairs  are  to  be 
judged  in  Ireland,  and  that  then  the  Irish  members  are  to 
come  to  the  Imperial  Parliament  and  to  judge  as  they  may 
think  fit  of  the  general  affairs  of  the  Empire,  and  also  of  af- 

*  Times,  Sept.  27,  1871. 

•{•"Hansard,"  Debate  on  Address,  March  20,  1874. 


HISTORY   OF   AN   IDEA  835 

fairs  exclusively  English  and  Scotch.  [Mr.  Butt:  No,  no.] 
It  is  all  very  well  for  gentlemen  to  cry  '  No '  when  the  blot 
has  been  hit  by  the  honorable  gentleman  opposite"  (Mr. 
Newdegate).     ... 

"  I  cannot  quit  this  subject  without  recording  the  satisfac- 
tion with  which  I  heard  one  declaration  made  by  the  right 
honorable  gentleman  who  seconded  the  amendment  (Mr. 
Brooks).  My  honorable  and  learned  friend  said  that  Ireland 
has  entirely  given  up  the  idea  of  separation  from  this 
country." 

Thus  I  again  accepted  without  qualification  the 
principle  that  Home  Rule  had  no  necessary  con- 
nection with  separation,  and  took  my  objection 
simply  to  a  proposal  that  Irishmen  should  deal 
exclusively  with  their  own  affairs,  and  also,  jointly, 
with  ours. 

After  the  death  of  Mr.  Butt,  Mr.  Shaw  became 
the  leader  of  his  party,  and  in  1884  delivered  an 
exposition  of  his  views  in  a  spirit  so  frank  and 
loyal  to  the  Constitution,  that  I  felt  it  my  duty  at 
once  to  meet  such  an  utterance  in  a  friendly  man- 
ner. I  could  not,  indeed,  consistently  with  the 
conditions  I  have  laid  down,  make  his  opinion  my 
own.  But  I  extract  a  portion  of  my  reference  to 
his  speech,  as  it  is  reported.* 

"  I  must  say  that  the  spirit  of  thorough  manliness  in  which 
he  approaches  this  question,  and  which  he  unites  with  a  spirit 
of  thorough  kindliness  to  us,  and  with  an  evident  disposition 
to  respect  both  the  functions  of  this  House,  and  the  spirit  of 
the  English  Constitution,  does  give  hope  that  if  the  relations 
between  England  and  Ireland  are  to  become  thoroughly  satis- 
factory, the  most  important  contribution  to  that  essential  end 
will  have  been  made  by  my  honorable  friend,  and  those  who 
speak  like  him." 

*"  Hansard,"  Feb.  27,  1880,  vol.  ccl.,  p.  1587. 


836  QLAPSTONE— PARNELL. 

In  a  speech  at  the  Guildhall,  on  receiving  an 
address,  I  reverted  to  the  subject  of  Home  Rule. 
This  was  the  period  (October,  1881)  when  I 
deemed  it  my  duty  more  than  once  to  denounce 
in  strong  terms  the  movement  against  rent  in 
Ireland,  and  with  it  the  extravagant  claims  which 
seemed  to  me  to  be  made  in  the  name  of  National 
Independence.     Yet  I  then  spoke  as  follows : 

**  It  is  not  on  any  point  connected  with  the  exercise  of 
local  government  in  Ireland  ;  it  is  not  even  on  any  point 
connected  with  what  is  popularly  known  m  that  country  as 
Home  Rule,  and  which  may  be  understood  m  any  one  of  a 
hundred  senses,  some  of  them  perfectly  acceptable,  and  even 
desirable,  others  of  them  mischievous  and  revolutionary — it  is 
not  upon  any  of  these  points  that  we  are  at  present  at  issue. 
With  regard  to  local  government  in  Ireland,  after  what  I  have 
said  of  local  government  in  general,  and  its  immeasurable 
benefits,  ....  you  will  not  be  surprised  if  I  say  that  I 
for  one  will  hail  with  satisfaction  and  delight  any  measure  of 
local  governments^;'  Ireland,  01  for  any  portion  of  the  coun- 
try, provided  only  that  it  conform  to  this  one  condition,  that 
It  shall  not  break  down  or  impair  the  supremacy  of  the  Im- 
perial Parliament."  * 

Once  more  I  entered  on  the  subject,  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  on  February  9,  1882.  I  re- 
ferred to  the  party  led  then,  as  now,  by  Mr.  Par- 
nell.     The  citation  is  from  Hansard: 

"  Neither  they,  nor  so  far  as  I  know  Mr.  Butt  before  them, 
nor  so  far  as  I  know  Mr.  O'Connell  before  him,  ever  dis- 
tinctly explained,  in  an  intelligible  and  practicable  form,  the 
manner  in  which  the  real  knot  of  this  question  was  to  be 
untied.  The  principle  upon  which  the  honorable  members 
propose  to  proceed  is  this — that  merely  Irish  matters  should 
be  dealt  with  by  a  purely  Irish  authority,  and  that  purely  Im- 
perial matters  should  be  dealt  with  by  an  Imperial  Chamber 

*  7ww«,  Oct.  14,  1881. 


HISTORY   OF   AN   IDKA.  837 

ih  which  [reland  is  to  be  represented.  Biit  they  have  not  told 
us  by  what  authority  it  is  to  be  deterrniued  what  matters, 
when  taken  one  by  one,  are  Irish,  and  what  matters  are  Im- 
perial. Until)  Sir,  they  lay  before  this  Jlouse  a  plan  in  which 
they  go  to  the  very  bottom  of  that  subject,  and  give  us  to 
understand  in  what  manner  that  division  of  jurisdiction  is  to 
be  accomplished,  the  practical  consideration  of  this  subject 
cannot  really  be  arrived  at,  and,  for  my  part,  I  know  not  how 
any  effective  judgment  upon  it  can  be  pronounced.  What- 
ever may  be  the  outcome  of  the  honorable  member's  piopo- 
sal,  of  this  I  am  well  convinced,  that  neither  this  House  of 
Commons,  nor  any  other  that  may  succeed  it,  will  at  any 
time  assent  to  any  measure  by  which  the  one  i)aramount 
Central  Authority,  necessary  for  holding  together  in  perfect 
union  and  compactness  this  great  Empire,  can  possibly  be 
either  in  the  greatest  or  the  slightest  degree  impaired.  We 
are  not  to  depart  from  that  principle  ;  and  what  I  put  to  the 
honorable  gentleman  who  has  just  sat  down,  and  to  the  hon- 
oiable  member  who  preceded  him  is  this — that  their  first  duty 
to  us  and  their  first  duty  to  themselves,  their  first  obligation 
in  the  prosecution  of  the  purpose  which  they  have  in  view — 
namely,  the  purpose  of  securing  the  u.anagement  of  })urely 
Irish  affairs  by  Irish  hands — is  to  point  out  to  us  by  what 
authority,  and  by  what  instrument,  affairs  purely  Irish  aie  to 
be  divided  and  distinguished,  in  order  that  they  may  be  ap- 
piopnately  and  separately  dealt  with  from  those  Imperial 
affairs  and  interests  which  they  have  frankly  admitted  must 
remain  in  the  hands  of  the  Imperial  Parliament," 

Mr.  Plunkett  hereupon  stated  that  he  had  taken 
down  my  words,  and  that  he  could  only  under- 
stand them  as  an  invitation  to  Irish  members  to 
reopen  the  question  of  Home  Rule.  Nor  did  he 
see  how  I  could,  after  using  such  words,  resist  a 
motion  for  a  committee  on  the  subject.*  To  any 
and  every  plan  for  referring  such  a  subject  to  a 

*  The  Times  of  Januaiy  8,  1882,  states  that  in  my  speedi,  as  Prmie 
Minis'er,  I  "  diverged,  amid  geneial  amazement,"  into  the  question  of  a 
separate  Legislature,  and  supporting  Mr  Plunkett,  said  that  the  language 
which  I  used  was  "  susceptible  of  an  interpretation  which,  we  fear,  may 
do  infinite  and  iireparable  mischief." 


838  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

committee  of  Parliament  I  have  at  all  times  been 
opposed.  But  Mr.  Pliinkett's  meaning  was  evi- 
dent, nor  could  I  dispute  the  substance  of  his 
interpretation. 

I  will  not  weary  my  reader  by  adding  to  cita- 
tions by  which  his  patience  has  already  been  so 
severely  tried.  But  I  ask  him  to  remember  that 
down  to  this  time  no  safeo^uardingf  definition  of 
Home  Rule  had  been  supplied,  and  no  demand, 
in  the  constitutional  sense,  had  been  made  by  the 
Irish  nation.  I  beg  him,  then,  after  he  has  read 
the  foregoing  declarations,  to  place  himself  for  a 
single  moment  in  my  position,  as  one  who  thought 
conditions  to  be  indispensable,  but  also  thought 
that  the  question  might  under  conditions  be  en- 
tertained, and  then  to  ask  himself  whether  it  was 
possible  more  carefully  to  indicate  In  outline  the 
limits  within  which  the  subject  of  Irish  self-gov- 
ernment might,  and  beyond  which  it  might  not 
legitimately  be  considered,  and  whether  it  is  any- 
thing less  than  absurd  to  impute  to  me*  that  my 
"principles"  forbade  me  to  promote  it? 

I  next  pass  to  the  period  preceding  the  election 
of  1885.  It  had  now  become  morally  certain  that 
Ireland  would,  through  a  vast  majority  of  her  rep- 
resentatives, present  a  demand  In  the  National 
sense.  But  no  light  had  been  thrown,  to  my 
knowledge,  upon  the  question  what  that  demand 
would  be.  Further,  not  only  was  there  a  Tory 
Government  in  office,  but  one  which  owed  much 

*  Sir  M    Beach  at  Bristol  {Times,  June  24,  1885). 


HISTORY  OF  AN  IDEA.  839 

to  Mr.  Parnell,  and  which  was  supposed  to  have 
given  him,  through  its  Lord-Lieutenant  or  other- 
wise, assurances  respecting  Irish  Government, 
which  he  had  deemed  more  or  less  satisfactory. 
Under  these  circumstances  I  conceived  that  my 
duty  was  clear,  and  that  it  was  summed  up  in  cer- 
tain particulars.  They  were  these:  To  do 
nothing  to  hinder  the  prosecution  of  the  question 
by  the  Tory  Government  if  it  should  continue  in 
office  (of  course  without  prejudice  to  my  making 
all  the  efforts  in  my  power  to  procure  a  Liberal 
majority) ;  entirely  to  avoid  any  language  which 
would  place  the  question  in  the  category  of  party 
measures,  but  to  use  my  best  efforts  to  impress 
the  public  mind,  and  especially  the  Liberal  mind, 
with  the  supreme  importance  and  the  probable 
urgency  of  the  question  ;  and  lastly,  to  lay  down 
the  principle  on  which  it  should  be  dealt  with. 
These  rules  of  action  applied  to  the  circumstances 
of  the  hour  those  governing  principles  which  I 
have  above  enumerated.  I  proceeded  on  them  as 
follows : 

It  was  impossible  for  me,  while  ignorant  of  the 
nature  and  limits  of  the  Irish  demand,  to  give  an 
opinion  upon  it ;  and  even  had  it  been  possible,  it 
would  have  been  in  conflict  with  the  condition 
which  I  have  numbered  (p.  825)  as  the  fifth.  But, 
to  give  emphasis  to  the  importance  of  the  ques- 
tion, I  severed  it  in  my  address  from  the  general 
subject  of  Local  Government  for  the  three  king- 
doms.    Ireland  had  arrived,  I  said,  at  an  impor- 


840  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

tant  epoch  In  her  history  ;*  she  had  claims  to  a 
special  interpretation  of  the  principles  of  Local 
Government.f  It  would  be  the  solution  of  a 
problem  testing  the  political  genius  of  these  na- 
tions4  Woe  be  to  the  man  who  should  prevent 
or  retard  the  consummation. §  It  would  probably 
throw  into  the  shade  all  the  important  measures 
which  in  my  address  I  had  set  out  as  ripe  for  ac- 
tion. j|  And  the  subject  is  one  "  which  goes  down 
to  the  very  roots  and  foundations  of  our  whole 
civil  and  political  constitution."^  And  yet  it  has 
been  said^  strangely  enough,  that  I  gave  no  indi- 
cation to  my  friends,  except  of  Local  Government 
in  the  sense  of  County  Government  for  Ireland."^'* 

Lastly,  I  laid  down,  over  and  over  again,  the 
principle  on  which  we  ought  to  proceed.  It  was 
to  give  to  Ireland  everything  which  was  compati- 
ble with  "  the  Supremacy  of  the  Crown,  the  Unity 
of  the  Empire,  and  all  the  authority  of  Parliament 
necessary  for  the  conservation  of  that  Unity."ff 

It  appears  to  me  that  the  whole  of  the  provis- 
ions of  the  Irish  Government  Bill,  lately  buried, 


*  Address  of  Sept.  1 7,  1885,  p  20. 

■j- Ibid.,  21.  Jlbid.  §  Ibid,  p.  22. 

li  First  Midlothian  Speech,  Nov.  9,  1885,  Speeches,  p.  44. 

i  Ibid. 

**  In  the  speech  just  quoted,  I  also  said  that  for  a  Government  in  a 
minority  to  deal  with  the  Irish  question  would  not  be  safe.  Certainly  such 
an  operation  could  not  but  be  attended  with  danger ;  but  that  I  thought 
it  might  nevertheless  be  properly  undertaken  is  demonstrated  by  the  tender 
of  my  support  in  it  to  Lord  Salisbury,  conveyed  after  the  election  through 
Mr.  Balfour,  although  the  Mimstetial  party  scarcely  reached  250. 

11  Address,  p.  21. 


HISTORY  OF  AN  IDEA.  §41 

but  perhaps  not  altogether  dead,  lies  well  within 
these  lines,  and  that  my  case  thus  far  is  complete. 

What  I  have  in  these  pages  urged  has  been  a 
defence  ag^ainst  a  charg-e  of  reticence.  On  the 
charge  of  precipitancy  I  need  not  bestow  many 
words.  What  antagonists  call  precipitancy  I  call 
promptitude.  Had  Mr.  Pitt  in  1801  carried  Roman 
Catholic  Emancipation,  as  we  suppose  he  wished, 
many  an  Englishman  would  have  thought  him 
precipitate.  Precipitancy  indeed  was  avoided,  but 
at  what  cost?  For  nine-and-twenty  years  the 
question  was  trifled  with  on  one  side  the  Channel, 
and  left  festering  on  the  other,  and  emancipation 
was  at  last  accepted  as  an  alternative  to  civil  war. 
Such  is  not  the  manner  in  which  I  desire  to  see 
the  business  of  the  Empire  carried  on.  It  was  not 
pondering  the  case ;  it  was  paltering  with  the 
public  interests.  I  do  not  deny  that  promptitude 
is  disagreeable  in  politics,  as  it  often  is  to  a  doc- 
tor's or  a  surgeon's  patient.  But  if  the  practi- 
tioner sees  that,  by  every  day's  delay,  the  malady 
takes  hold  and  the  chances  of  health  or  life  are 
dwindling  away,  it  is  his  duty  to  press  the  opera- 
tion or  the  drug,  and  the  sufferer  will  in  due  time 
be  grateful  to  him  for  the  courage  and  fidelity 
which  at  first  he  mistakenly  condemned. 

I  have  endeavored  to  point  out  the  conditions 
under  which  alone  the  question  of  a  statutory  Par- 
liament for  Ireland  could  be  warrantably  enter- 
tained. The  real  test  may  be  stated  in  one  word: 
the  ripeness  or  unripeness  of  the  question.     All 


842  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

men  do  not  perceive,  all  men  do  not  appreciate 
ripeness  with  the  same  degree  of  readiness  or 
aptitude  ;  and  the  slow  must  ever  suffer  inconven- 
ience in  the  race  of  life.  But  when  the  subject 
once  was  ripe,  the  time  for  action  had  come.  Just 
as  if  it  had  been  a  cornfield,  we  were  not  to  wait 
till  it  was  overripe.  The  healing  of  inveterate 
sores  would  only  become  more  difficult,  the  growth 
of  budding  hopes  more  liable  to  be  checked  and 
paralyzed  by  the  frosts  of  politics.  For  England, 
in  her  soft  arm-chair,  a  leisurely,  very  leisurely 
consideration,  with  adjournments  interposed,  as  it 
had  been  usual,  so  also  would  have  been  comfort- 
able. But  for  Ireland,  in  her  leaky  cabin,  it  was 
of  consequence  to  stop  out  the  weather.  To  miss 
the  opportunity  would  have  been  not  less  clearly 
wrong  than  to  refuse  waiting  until  it  came.  The 
first  political  juncture  which  made  action  permis- 
jible  also  made  it  obligatory. 
So  much,  then,  for  precipitancy. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

HON.  JOHN   SHERMAN   ON  "  THE    GREAT   IRISH 
STRUGGLE." 


Robert  M.  McWade,  Esq.,  Philadelphia,  Pa., 

My  dear  Sir:  I  have  to  acknowledge,  with 
thanks,  the  receipt  from  you  of  a  copy  of  the  joint 
work  of  Mr.  O'Connor  and  yourself  on  "The 
Great  Irish  Struggle."  It  contains  a  mass  of 
information  deeply  interesting  to  every  American. 
The  preface  by  Dr.  Burns  expresses  in  a  few 
sentences  the  view  taken  by  intelligent  Americans 
of  the  movement  for  Home  Rule  in  Ireland. 
There  is  a  profound  and  general  sympathy  among 
my  countrymen  in  favor  of  this  movement,  and 
the  universal  hope  is,  that  by  peaceful  and  ear- 
nest efforts  the  British  Parliament  will  be  induced 
to  grant  to  the  people  of  Ireland  the  inestimable 
'benefit  of  Home  Rule  in  local  affairs. 

This  is  not  confined  to  Irishmen  in  America,  or 
to  the  descendants  of  Irishmen,  but  is  fully  shared 
by  the  descendants  of  Englishmen,  and  especially 
by  those  whose  ancestors  for  more  than  two  cen- 
turies have  been  Americans  by  birth.     Nor  does 

50  (843) 


844  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

this  feeling  arise  from  any  desire  to  weaken  or 
cripple  the  power  of  the  British  Empire.  While 
this  power  has  been  often  exercised  without  due 
regard  to  the  rights  of  other  nations,  yet  we  know 
that  the  general  results  of  this  domination,  to 
which  the  Irish  people  have  contributed  their  full 
part,  have  been  the  most  potent  agency  in  advanc- 
ing the  civilization  and  progress  of  mankind. 

As  Americans  we  share  in  the  glory  of  British 
achievements  and  power,  and  believe  that  with 
Home  Rule  Ireland  will  not  only  cease  to  be  dis- 
contented, but  will  be  able  to  contribute  a  still 
greater  share  to  the  boasted  power  of  the  British 
Empire.  Nor  does  our  sympathy  arise  from  any 
affinities  on  account  of  religious  creeds  or  tests. 
A  greater  proportion  of  the  American  people  are 
Protestants,  compared  with  Catholics,  than  are  the 
Protestants  of  Great  Britain,  compared  with  Cath- 
olics; but  we  have  long  since  learned  that  freedom 
of  religious  worship  is  the  sacred  right  of  every 
citizen — too  sacred  to  be  controlled  by  the  laws 
of  the  State  or  nation. 

Our  sympathy  is  founded  upon  the  experience 
of  a  hundred  years,  that  a  great  population  cannot 
be  held  in  peaceful  and  happy  relation  by  central 
authority  alone,  but  that  each  community  must 
have  local  autonomy,  with  power  to  pass  local 
laws  suited  to  its  wants,  its  habits,  and  even  its 
prejudices,  leaving  to  central,  or  national  author- 
ity the  great  powers  essential  to  empire. 


JOHN  SHERMAN'S  VIEWS.  845 

We  carry  our  divisions  of  local  autonomy  to 
school  districts,  to  townships,  to  cities  and  counties, 
each  with  clearly  defined  but  limited  authority, 
but  confer  upon  States  and  the  nation  broader 
power  and  jurisdiction.  It  is  only  by  such  a  divis- 
ion of  power  that  freedom,  in  its  true  sense,  can 
be  enjoyed  by  any  populous  and  extended  coun- 
try. Great  Britain  has  recognized  this  great 
principle  of  human  government  in  every  step  of 
its  wonderful  progress  towards  free  institutions, 
from  the  days  of  Magna  Charta,  the  birth  of  its 
national  freedom,  to  its  present  liberal  govern- 
ment founded  upon  general  suffrage.  She  has 
extended  the  principle  of  Home  Rule  to  the  Do- 
minion of  Canada  and  Australia,  and  ages  ago 
she  gave  local  autonomy  with  liberal  franchises  to 
her  cities  and  counties,  and  even  to  guilds  of 
tradesmen  and  mechanics. 

It  is  this  autonomy,  or  local  rule  with  powers 
suitable  to  the  conditions  and  wants  of  Ireland, 
that  the  people  of  that  island  want,  and  such 
powers  are  not  only  consistent  with,  but  will  ad- 
vance the  glory  and  power  of  the  Empire.  It 
was  earnestly  hoped  by  all  classes  in  America 
that  when  a  great  and  honored  statesman  like 
Gladstone,  with  the  body  of  the  Liberal  party, 
proposed  to  grant  Home  Rule  to  Ireland,  that  it 
would  be  yielded  by  the  popular  vote  in  England; 
and  we  yet  hope  that  by  peaceful  appeals  and 
agitation,  and,  especially  by  eschewing  violence, 


846  GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 

and  above  all  that  hellish  form  bf  violence,  by 
dynamite,  the  House  of  Commons  may  ht  ^dn 
to  try  this  effective  mode  to  happily  close  "  The 
Great  Irish  Struggle"  of  the  century. 

We  in  America  can  appreciate  the  fea'r  of  "de- 
stroying the  Union,"  that  is  made  th6  ^arty  cry 
against  Home  Rule.  We  spent  billions  df  treas- 
ure and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  lives  to  save 
the  Union,  and  all,  both  North  and  Sotith,  now 
feel  that  the  preservation  of  the  Uni6n  was  worth 
the  cost.  But  when  we  saved  the  Union,  the  first 
step  was  to  preserve  and  maintain  in  full  force 
the  autonomy  of  the  States,  and  all  the  powers 
and  benefits  of  local  government.  In  this  we  re- 
ceived the  hearty  approval  of  the  English  peo- 
ple. 

In  wishing  for  them  the  same  happy  solution 
of  their  struggles  we  only  speak  the  friendly  wish 
of  a  greater  number  of  the  descendants  of  Enof- 
lishmen,  Irishmen  and  Scotchmen  than  are  to  be 
found  in  all  the  islands  of  Great  Britain.  Good 
government  depends  upon  the  order  and  blending 
of  Home  Rule  and  national  authority,  which,  like 
the  two  great  forces  of  nature,  though  seemingly 
opposed,  are  equally  important  to  the  harmony 
of  government. 

Very  truly  yours, 

John  Sherman. 


This  book  is  a  presentation  facsimile. 

It  is  made  in  compliance  with  copyright  law 

and  produced  on  acid-free  archival 

60#  book  weight  paper 

which  meets  the  requirements  of 

ANSI/NISO  Z39.48-1992  (permanence  of  paper) 


Preservation  facsimile  printing  and  binding 

by 

Acme  Bookbinding 

Charlestown,  Massachusetts 


2004 


BOSTON  COLLEGE 


3   9031    025   30983   2 


